Yesterday, we had a chance to go to the zoo. The Riverbanks Zoo and Garden here in Columbia to be precise. We have a new addition to the zoo and his name is Lewis. He is a ten-day-old reticulated giraffe calf and measures approximately 5 feet, 5 inches and weighs 126 pounds. His parents are Sharon and Charlie and he was born on Feb. 9, 2009. This photograph shows Lewis about to get a kiss/lick from dad Charlie, while mom Sharon looks on in the background. We watched this trio for about 40 minutes and I was amazed to see the amount of bonding going on between father and son. Not a real prevalent occurrence in nature. In fact, mom appeared not to be real happy about having the little critter around. He tried to nurse a number of times and she would have none of it. The old man seemed to be telling his son not to worry, that she wouldn't pay any attention to him either.
You think of giraffes as just some tall ungainly animal, eating leaves from the tree-tops in Africa or at zoos around the country. But upon closer inspection, they are extremely powerful as one can see when you look at the musculature on the shoulders and neck. Not to mention that they have a tongue that is about a foot long. Amazing animals! The little guy wasn't moving around much. He seemed to find a spot in the enclosure where the sun was warm and he just hung out until his father started to pester him to move around. There will be many more photos of these guys posted on my site.
You think of giraffes as just some tall ungainly animal, eating leaves from the tree-tops in Africa or at zoos around the country. But upon closer inspection, they are extremely powerful as one can see when you look at the musculature on the shoulders and neck. Not to mention that they have a tongue that is about a foot long. Amazing animals! The little guy wasn't moving around much. He seemed to find a spot in the enclosure where the sun was warm and he just hung out until his father started to pester him to move around. There will be many more photos of these guys posted on my site.
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