Crooked-necked giraffe dies at 21

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Jan. 12 (UPI) -- Gemina, the crooked-necked giraffe loved by thousands of Southern California children, has died at age 21 in the Santa Barbara Zoo.

"She was the most famous individual we had," Alan Varsik, the zoo's director of animal programs and conservation, told The Los Angeles Times. "She's been a part of Santa Barbara for a long time."

Varsik said Gemina, despite her apparent deformity, lived about six years past the normal giraffe life span. She was euthanized Wednesday after she stopped eating.

Gemina, born in the San Diego Wild Animal Park, arrived in Santa Barbara as an apparently normal 1-year-old. Her neck bones started jutting out, something that had not been seen in a giraffe for almost a century, and X-rays showed that she had fused vertebrae.

In 2006, Gemina made her last television appearance on ABC's "Miracle Workers." A 3-year-old child with scoliosis on the show said that Gemina "has a bump like me."