Europe's 'oldest' Rothschild's giraffe dies at 23

Thorn was the herd's dominant male and fathered 29 calves in his lifetime

Longleat Safari Park has paid tribute to its "exceptional" giraffe Thorn, who has died aged 23.

The Rothschild's giraffe was born in Edinburgh and weighed 1.3 tonnes. Until Thorn's death, he was thought to be the oldest of his kind in Europe and celebrated his birthday in February.

Thorn moved to Longleat in 2012 and had been enjoying his retirement when he fell ill, zookeepers at the park said.

During his life time Thorn fathered 29 calves as the herd's dominant bull, and also had five grandchildren.

Thorn's descendants are in zoo collections across Europe

Darren Beasley, head of the park's animal operations, said: "It is with huge sadness we are sharing this news today.

"Thorn has been experiencing ill-health for some time and supported by veterinary care, we have been able to maintain his quality of life using pain relief.

"However, he has been deteriorating and was struggling, in particular with age-related arthritis in his legs, so we had to make the difficult decision to put him to sleep.

"We are supporting our keepers who have cared for him for many years and for whom Thorn was very much part of their extended family; decisions such as this one are a tough part of our work but when required it is the right thing to do for our animals in the same way many of us have to make similar decisions for domestic pets."

In the wild the maximum life expectancy for a male is between 15-20 years.

The park said it has one of the "most successful captive breeding programmes" for Rothschild's giraffes and many of Thorn's descendants have been sent to zoological collections across Europe.