Giraffe

Photo slideshow of the giraffes at the wild animal park I used to work at. I included the boats at the beginning so that you could see how the tourists could observe the animals as they moved through the park. --I'm between 16 to 22 years old in the photographs.

Giraffes are even-toed ungulates, meaning that they are hooved. Giraffes are ruminants, meaning they have a four-chambered stomach like cattle, and chew their cud to assist in digestion. Like cattle, the females are called cows, the males bulls, and the babies calves. Even though giraffes have the longest necks in the animal kingdom, their necks only have seven vertebrae just as most mammals. Giraffes have special valves in the blood vessels in their necks to prevent the blood from rushing out of their head when lifting it quickly, so as to prevent fainting. A bull giraffe can reach a height of 15 to 17 feet (4.7-5.3 m). They have a long, black tongue which can be extended up to 18 inches (46 cm) in order to strip leaves from high branches.

At 1:32, a male giraffe is testing a female's urine to see if she is ready to breed (it's called flehmen or lip-curl response). The female with legs sticking out of her backside is giving birth. After a gestation period of 15 months, the mothers give birth standing up. You'll notice that the baby's horns are flattened to allow for making the birthing process easier. There were several babies born while I worked there, but one female was never very good at motherhood,... so we would always have to bottle raise her young each time she gave birth. The female giraffe that is nursing two babies is actually the mother of the third baby standing to the side. Giraffes in the wild will sometimes leave their young with one female as they go off to forage on leaves and bark. At 2:52, the giraffe with its head folded down is sleeping. For many years, zoologists actually believed giraffes never slept. Apparently, they didn't spend enough time with them though, because I witnessed them sleeping fairly often.

All photographs are the property of Dafttool & cannot be reproduced or used without the expressed authorization of Dafttool.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• dafttool
• giraffe
• zoo
• animal
• man
• kissing
• exotic
• nature
• photography
• reticulated
• ungulate
• abandoned
• baby
• bottlefed
• birth
• wildlife

[PaintedRavensong]

They seem to have a "sweet" nature about them. Is this true of giraffes? I used to work as a volunteer in a wild animal sanctuary and there were some animals that you could never really trust. It looks like you have such a great bond with these magnificent creatures. Their eyes look right into you, don't they.

[dafttool]

@PaintedRavensong Giraffes can be quite sweet, calm, & deliberative about the actions they take. But not necessarily. The ones you see me standing closest to or kissing were at one time bottle-raised, so they were VERY gentle & bonded to people. (That large one liked people better than the other giraffes--when in heat, she actually would back up to us, which could be disconcerting) The rest of the herd, especially the bulls, would've taken my head off if I ever tried to stand too close to them.

[Alzbeti8]

that song what was in this video before this song is :

10,000 Maniacs - These Are Days

[dafttool]

@Alzbeti8 Youtube muted my video for copyright issues, so I had to unfortunately switch out the song. It was quite a blow to me because I had synced many of my photos to the Maniacs' song & plus that song is very good (something I can't say about the replacement) --Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. Thanks for the comment.

[adampee75]

i work at the toronto zoo, and we have 3 giraffes there but our male is only about 17 ft. in length, im assuming that is quite short for a male, did you know the length of your males?

[dafttool]

@adampee75 I believe our bull was around 18 feet tall. You could measure him when he stood near the giraffe barn.

[drummin13]

im drawing a giraffe in art class :]]

[54spiritedwill54]

i love giraffes! :)

[akress2121]

I would love to have one.(: -3

[sourkiwismile]

I have this fascination over giraffe & i have a collection..

I'm saving up money to actually buy a pet giraffe, i think they are so unique and amazing.

[Pauliebleeker666]

its an awesome vid btw :]

[Pauliebleeker666]

I envy you d: you kissed giraffes, i wish that can happen to me :B

[tigerlil71]

Intense.

[ceburch151]

Epic giraffe montage, I loved it.