<!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --> <p style="margin-left: 1.22cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;" lang="en-US" align="justify"><span style="font-size: x-small;">An increasing elephant <em>Loxodonta africana</em> population has been confined to a 2 770 ha enclosure since 1954. When compared to the vegetation adjacent to the enclosure, the plant biomass within has been reduced by more than one half. Changes in the botanical composition are described.</span></p>

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The sizes of foals up to two years old can be used for age estimation in the field. Tooth eruption and replacement, which is similar to Hartmann and plains zebras, can be used for age estimation up to four years. No age classes based on tooth wear could be defined, due to the paucity of material. Infundibula in the incisors are retained to a greater age than in Hartmann or plains zebras. Cementum layer counts offer a reliable age determination method, at least up to 15 years.

During three seasonal periods, parasitological samples were collected from six giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis angolensis) in the Etosha National Park, Namibia. The helminths recovered included Parabronema skrjabini, Skrjabinema spp., Haemonchus mitchelli and Echinococcus sp. larvae; Cytauxzoon sp. was the only hematozoan found. The low mean abundances of all helminths which ranged from 18 to 531 may be attributed to the low rainfall of this region or because the giraffe is not a preferred host for these species of helminths.