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

2016 update on Rike Park, Tbilisi: from construction to busy park

From a flat patch of uninteresting dirt, Rike Park in Tbilisi, Georgia, has transformed in four years (from 2014-2016) into a busy park full of trees, flower beds, sculptures, fountains, and events. Rike (Rikhe) Park is on the left bank of the Mt’k’vari River (the Kura River) near the Old City of Tbilisi. The Peace Bridge links the right bank to Rike Park. Rike Park is below the hillside Presidential Palace and, via cable car, it is the starting point for the ride to Sololaki Ridge (with the Narikala Fortress and the Mother of Georgia statue). The glass box-shaped cable car terminus was opened on 23 June 2012, and since then the park has continually developed into a ‘people’s park’ where people can walk around, eat at the nearby restaurants, sit next to the statue of American president Ronald Reagan, climb the steps to Avlabari district, and access the sights of Meidan Square, the Peace Bridge, the Metekhi Church, the Old City, the waterfall, the sulphur baths, and t...

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...

Hop on hop off bus tourism comes to Tbilisi, Georgia

City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog