Crooked-Neck Giraffe Skeleton Now on Display

A familiar face has made its long-awaited return to the Santa Barbara Zoo, though in a slightly different state than how it arrived.

The partial skeleton of Gemina, the crooked-neck giraffe that lived at the zoo for 18 years, can now be visited for years to come in the Santa Barbara Zoo’s Discovery Pavilion.

Once voted the first wonder of the “Seven Wonders of Santa Barbara” in a 2007 radio poll, Gemina quickly became a resident celebrity after she was acquired from the San Diego Zoo in 1990. Gemina was featured in several television spots, including a 2004 episode of “The Bachelor.”

In a statement released by the Santa Barbara Zoo, the love visitors still hold for Gemina “reminds us all that being different is just fine.” Gemina passed away on January 9, 2008, only five months after the zoo-wide celebration of her 21st birthday.