Hi Cheryl, I think this one is the better of the two because the subject is looking directly to the viewer and I like the linkage.
Regarding firstly the crop, I like it as presented, but also I wonder if you were to move the whole crop to the left by about a third of the space between subject and trim so it's more to the left just to balance the RHS???? I like what John has done and spot on with his observations. Darkening the brighter foliage/vegetation can all be done in ACR where you can be far more selective and you are working on the RAW, not a TIFF so you are not
'pixel bashing' and therefore the IQ is going to be better. I also like the way he has added more tone to the subject, you may find a Luminosity mask may help here, it just helps the brighter parts again, although there other ways too to adjust this, it just depend on how comfortable you are in PS and I know you are still feeling your way around things so keep things simple. Re the BKD and the noise, treat it in the same way as your Giraffes that worked. Again in John's RP he has brought more depth & detail back into the branches which really helps, as per my comment on your last image too, but the branch that runs to 1 o'clock looks a little odd, there seems to be a greater loss of DOF compared to the others. I know it's running back and further away, but I'm surprised to the amount and to such a degree, probably optical.
Try your flash around f/7.1 and cranking p the ISO so you get a SS of 1/250-300 this should help if you are HH rather than on a tripod.
TFS
Steve