Two new giraffes have arrived in a shroud of secrecy at the Bioparco in Rome. For the past ten months, male giraffe Rocco has been living alone in the Rome Bioparco after his female companions Stella and Pallina went to the Fasano zoosafari in Puglia.

Giraffes are known to be social animals who do not deal well with solitude and many say Rocco has been looking sad over the past months due to loneliness.

The Bioparco is currently not revealing where the new arrivals have come from due to what they call bureaucratic reasons. The zoo has only said that the two female giraffes - one is 18 months and the other 12 years old - are in good health apart from slight stomach upsets resulting from the obligatory sedatives they were given for the journey.