Gabor is a giraffe. He’s a tender-slender giraffe. He lives on the grassland plains of Africa. He is so tall that he can eat the leaves from the very top of the highest trees. Acacia trees are his favourite food. He and the other giraffes in his small herd spend many hours chomping on their favourite leaves.

Gabor has a friend called Amber. Amber is an antelope. Amber lives in a herd much bigger than Gabor’s. The herd likes to spend time grazing on the grasslands. Amber has some babies and together the herd help to look after and protect the babies from danger.

One early morning in summer, the air is already very warm, and Gabor is pulling some leaves from an acacia tree to eat. Acacia trees have very long roots to reach deep underground for water. That’s why they can survive in very dry, hot weather.

As Gabor chews, he looks around. Giraffes have such long necks and high-up heads that they can see for miles.

Gabor notices, just as he has before, that the plains are starting to look a bit like a jigsaw puzzle, with different pieces all fitted together. His parents say it hasn’t always been like this. They say that the grasslands used to be all that was visible as far as the eye could see.

“Hi Gabor!” a voice suddenly says.

Gabor leans all the way down under the acacia tree and sees Amber. She is surrounded by her herd. They are all laid down. Between her and another, larger antelope, Gabor can see a couple of her tiny babies.

“Hey, how are you?” Gabor asks. “Oh, those little calves are just so cute!” he smiles.

“Thanks,” says Amber. “They’re still only a few days old.”

“Why are you all here?” Gabor enquires. He knows the herd mostly likes to graze on the surrounding grassland at night. They rest in the shade of boulders during the incredibly hot, sunny days.

“There’s not really much grass left here for us to graze on. But our habitat has been fragmented, so there are large gaps between here and other areas of grassland.”

Gabor looks around at the ground a little. Amber is right. It’s very bare looking.

“What do you mean gaps?” he asks.

“Well, some areas of grassland are being destroyed by fires, and humans using land for different types of agriculture, and even building roads.”

Gabor looks shocked.

“I know the fires start because it’s so hot here. But don’t humans know that we need the grassland for you to graze on and for me to eat trees?” he asks, in a worried sounding voice.

“Yes, they do,” replies Amber sadly. “But it seems humans have more important priorities.”

Gabor can’t believe this. It seems really selfish.

“Are there other areas of grassland that you can go and graze on?” he wonders.

“Yes,” nods Amber. Some of the other antelopes around her moo in agreement. MOO! MOO! MOO!

“But it’s hard to know which direction to go in,” Amber continues. “The gaps between the grasslands are big. If there are lions or any other predators in them, we adult antelopes can detect them early and escape. Or we can protect ourselves with our horns. But they try to catch our babies because they’re so vulnerable.”

Gabor can’t believe this. He hates to think about the risk the antelopes will take crossing the gaps between the grasslands with their young.

Gabor is incredibly kind-hearted and wants to help his friend. He stretches his neck up, back above the acacia tree, as he wonders what he can do. As he looks around, he sees the jigsaw-puzzle layout of the plain. He now understands it looks like this because of habitat fragmentation. He looks down at the area of land between the grassland where he is stood and the next piece of grassland. He sees a Cape buffalo slowly ambling along. This immediately gives him an idea!

He bends his neck back down again quickly, so his head is level with the herd of antelope.

“Amber, I can see for miles around. I’ll tell you which direction you should go in to get to new grasslands and I can make sure the gaps you cross are safe of predators.”

Amber and the other antelopes look at each other then back at Gabor. They bleat with happiness.

“Yes!” says Amber, excitedly. “That would be perfect!”

So, as darkness falls that night, Gabor looks out over the plains and spots an area of grassland not too many miles away. There are no predators roaming the eroded area between where the animals are and the other piece of grassland.

He points the antelope in the right direction, and they quietly bound off to the new piece of grassland to graze, safe from predators. They agree that the antelope will return again in a few months so that Gabor can direct them safely to another piece of grassland. They will be able to graze the areas of grasslands on the plains safely for a long time to come!

As they leave, Amber turns around and moos back at him, “See you soon, Gabor! Thanks. You have a big heart!”

“Actually,” says Gabor to himself, quietly, “I have three!”

And he smiles as he watches his friend, and the other antelopes, disappear safely into the distance.

Questions for discussion

What are the causes of habitat fragmentation?

Why is habitat fragmentation bad for animals’ habitats?

What kinds of things can we do to stop fragmenting the habitat of wildlife?