Australian giraffe just won’t move: she doesn’t like rain

A young giraffe just won’t move until it stops raining. The Daily Telegraph (November 7, 2012) writes that Australia’s Taronga Western Plains Zoo rangers have delayed a giraffe’s relocation because giraffes don’t like rain.

Three-year-old Kitoto, a young female giraffe, was due to be moved to a different location – which meant getting into a large box and being placed onto a low loader truck. She’s been practicing the move for a awhile to get used to entering the transport box. She is becoming sexually mature and the zoo keepers want to move her to Sydney’s Taronga Zoo. She only had to travel 15 metres from her front yard to the transport crate. But it rained. The Taronga Western Plains Zoo is in the rural town of Dubbo – and it hasn’t rained for weeks. But Kitoto wasn’t going to move one little bit.

A zoo spokesperson said, “Giraffes just don’t like the rain. They will not move, and prefer to just stand still, preferably under a tree, or at Dubbo, stay inside the Giraffe House. No one really knows why. They just dislike doing anything in rain.”

After an hour and a half of negotiation, zookeepers stopped coaxing her with food. Besides, the peak hour traffic was starting and they wanted to transport her early in the morning to avoid the traffic during the 412 kilometre (256 mile) journey (about 5 hours of driving).

Although she will leave 11 other giraffes that she’s grown up with in Dubbo, Kitoto will join three giraffes at Taronga’s Sydney Zoo as she enters breeding age. The aim now is to leave her where she is and try again in the morning. They’ll put the transport crate in front of her night house so she’ll walk straight into it in the morning – if it doesn’t rain! The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting rain – in fact, thunderstorms (“a classic late spring storm outbreak”) – in Dubbo for November 8 and November 9. Zookeepers may have to wait until the weekend.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1708883/Giraffe-refuses-to-get-her-hair-wet

http://www.news.com.au/national/taronga-zoo-postpones-move-of-moody-giraffe-because-giraffes-dont-like-rain/story-fndo4bst-1226512075050

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...

Shindi: the Georgian Cornelian cherry

The Cornelian cherry – shindi in Georgian – is a fruit with medicinal and decorative properties. It was grown from ancient times, according to the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS). It is also commonly called the European cornel. It is native to southern Europe from France to Ukraine as well as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. The Cornelian cherry tree ( Cornus mas ) can be grown in orchards, but it is often seen in the forests of Georgia where it grows up to 1,350 metres above sea level. It is a medium to large deciduous tree, growing from 5-12 metres tall. The flowers are small with four yellow petals in clusters, which flower in February and March. The Cornus mas has three botanical varieties: (1) var. typica Sanadze with cylindrical red fruits, (2) var. pyriformis Sanadze with pear-shaped red fruits, and (3) var. flava vest with yellow fruits. The fruits are oblong red drupes about 2 centimetres ...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog