12-year-old giraffe at Niabi Zoo dies

A 12-year-old female giraffe at the Niabi Zoo has died.

Zoo Director Marc Heinzman announced that "Mimi," the female giraffe passed away at about 1 a.m. Monday, August 24, 2015.

"Mimi" had been under close observation for about a day after staff noticed that she wasn't ruminating, or "chewing cud" the way she should. Heinzman explained that giraffes have a four-chambered stomach.  The animals will get nutrients from plants by chewing and regurgitating their food repeatedly until it is fully digested.  If this process wasn't happening, it's possible that the digestive system is not functioning properly.

"This was a terrible loss that was felt by everyone at the Zoo," Heinzman said. "Our experienced animal care and veterinary staff had been through monitoring Mimi closely, but ultimately we were unable to help pull her though."

Heinzman said the giraffe "went from resting and alert to passing away in less than a 20 minute time span."

A necropsy has been scheduled at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine.

"This is a truly heartbreaking scenario, but we hope to learn more about its cause from the necropsy results," Heinzman said.

In July, Mimi's baby giraffe, Genesis, had to be euthanized because of an injury to his leg from which he could not recover. 

The rest of the Niabi Zoo's giraffes include a nine-year-old male, Kenya a nine-year-old female, Twiga.