Saturday, April 15, 2017

OMGiraffe

At Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, NY, a giraffe is about to be born. Like, soon.

comments: 3

Slywy said...

It was everywhere this morning so I watched it. She had legs hanging out of her for a long time, then several sets of contractions that didn't quite do it. Finally I saw a head and ears. Then she had some big contractions, and baby finally fell out, followed by what appeared to be Lake Superior. He face planted two or three times while trying to get up, and face planted a time or two more after getting up. I stuck around long enough to make sure he found the milk bar. And it is a he. I checked in later, and he seemed to have a better handle on walking without face planting.

Apparently it was going around on Twitter that his birth attracted more interest than a recent presidential inauguration.

I also found out that the park's YouTube channel was cut off a while back when animal rights activists and others reported them for sex and nudity. True, April was nude, but sporting a coat of spots.

Some people were asking why the male, who kept poking his nose over, wasn't allowed in like good daddies are. Well, he's a giraffe, and giraffe daddies aren't nurturing like human daddies. He's also big, and April would be protective of a calf. So you don't really want them getting into a spat with a shaky junior around. Anthropomorphizing does a real disservice to animals. Giraffes are a mystery, however.

Michael Leddy said...

I kept thinking, Deep breaths! Push! I watched long enough to see the baby come out and stand up, but I gave up before the nursing.

Someone from the animal park says online that male giraffes are interested only in fighting and “the unmentionable.” So it made sense to have the father at a distance. I imagined him smoking a cigar as he paced, 1950s style.

Slywy said...

Michael. You're anthropomorphizing. :-)