RETICULATED GIRAFFE
Giraffa camelopardalis
I have always had a hard time photographing these giant animals. They just don't fit into the frame very well. I liked this composition at the Oakland Zoo. Reflections generally look good. Notice how the zoo has the feeding boxes up at head level, so they don't have to eat from the ground. Quite awkward for them I suppose.
The pattern on them is unique, like a fingerprint. I was on a photo tour at the San Diego Wild Animal Park once and got to feed a few giraffes including Ivan, a 19ft tall monolith. His tongue was almost two feet long! The tongue is the finger for the giraffe. That long tongue helps it reach just a little higher in the trees for the leaves it eats. We fed them dog biscuit-looking snacks. Hold it out to the side of his head so he could see it and out would come that tongue, wrapping around your forearm and sliding off, taking the biscuit, of course. Not really slimy like I expected but rather dry and not extremely coarse.
I reached up to pet Ivan's head when he walked over to the truck we were on. The guide lady screamed, "No, don't touch him!" to which I yanked my hands back behind me. "Okay, but aren't we gonna feed them?" I asked and she said yes but he can touch me but not the opposite. Freaks him out and he'll swing his head like a club. I guess someone found that out the hard way. But then not to long ago, I was at the Riverbanks Zoo and people were petting the giraffes that were up at the feeding deck. They had grown accustomed to the touching and didn't freak out.
Giraffes live in the woodland savannahs of Southern Africa. It is the tallest of all animals, growing to 18 feet. The guide said Ivan was 19 feet. He was really up there. You couldn't touch his stomach from the ground standing under him. Not that we tried.
Read the details about them here: Reticulated Giraffe
|
Giraffe 1 |
Giraffe 2 |
Giraffe 3 |
|
Giraffe 4 |
Giraffe 5 |
Giraffe 6 |
|
Giraffe 7 |
Giraffe 8 |
Giraffe 9 |
|
Giraffe 10 |
Giraffe 11 |
Giraffe 12 |
|
Giraffe 13 |