Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Baby Giraffee

 

 

 

 
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I plucked these delightful giraffe pictures from a recent email from a friend who knows I love giraffes. But on the heels of this email I heard the horrible story of the chimpanzee attack. It was the saddest story to me, as I have an abiding interest in chimps also. I think the meaning of this attack is clear: wild animals are still wild animals even when they live with people, and you can never be sure what they may do. What actually triggered the attack may never be known, which is also tragic, because it would help us understand our own species better.

Most babies measuring 5 ft would be considered big, but newborn giraffe, Margaret, at Chester Zoo, UK is seen as unusually small for her species. HOW SWEET!! She is one of the smallest giraffes ever born at Chester Zoo but pint-sized Margaret will soon be an animal to look up to.

Little Margaret, who is the first female Rothschild giraffe born at the zoo, is being hand-reared by her dedicated keepers. The first calf for six-year-old mum Fay, Margaret, who was born two weeks early, tipped the scales at just 34 kilos and is a mere 5 ft tall.

Tim Rowlands, team leader of the Giraffes section, said: 'Margaret is potentially one of the smallest giraffe calves we have ever seen. Fay isn't the largest of giraffes and Margaret was also early which might go some way to explaining her size. 'Margaret was having difficulty suckling so our keeping team are now hand-rearing her'.

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