Tag Archives: giraffe

Cuteness Alert – Baby Giraffe

wpid7333-AU0E6924.jpgThis is going to be the first in a short series of cute baby animal posts.  No kittens or puppies here but it won’t be the first time I have been down this route as the baby elephant post here will testify.  However, one of our local zoos at Brookfield has had a bunch of new animals born in recent months.  We popped along to see one of them and ended up seeing the others that we had forgotten about.

wpid7335-AU0E6942.jpgThe new addition in question is a baby giraffe.  Giraffes are a quite fascinating creature for many people and their enclosure always has a good crowd.  At the moment, the numbers are significantly higher as the addition of a new member to the family is getting a lot of attention.  If you want to see how a baby giraffe is born, go to Brookfield Zoo’s YouTube page and there is a video of the birth there.  It is not a subtle event as the mother is walking around and literally drops the baby out as she goes.  Apparently, the thump as it hits the ground startles it into action and it is off!

wpid7329-AU0E6894.jpgThe youngster has grown a bit by now but is still conspicuously small compared to the rest of the family.  Balance is good but still a little ungainly and investigating things away from the adults still seems to have some fascination.  If you are in the area, you should drop by before they get too big.

Halloween at the Zoo

Whether it is the weather or whether it is some subconscious thing, it appears that we get lured to the zoo at Halloween.  The weekend weather forecast looked very promising so we thought we pop out to Brookfield to see what the animals were doing.  It was only when we got there that we realized that, being Halloween weekend, everyone was there in costumes.

This triggered something from our recollection that we had done the same thing last year.  Let’s go to the zoo when everyone else is planning on being there and all dressed up!  (I will leave my thoughts on Halloween for another post I suspect.)

As it turned out, the center area of the zoo was very busy but the rest of it was no busier than most weekends.  The sun was out and the animal were active so it was a good time to go.  We got particularly lucky with a couple of things.

I have never seen the kangaroos move before.  They have always been lying down taking a nap when I have been there.  Sometimes, this is tucked up against the  wall for extra shade.  However, this time they got up and fed for a while and even hopped across the enclosure.  That was a big plus.

Next we arrived at the brown bear enclosure and the staff were seeding the place with vegetables for the bears to find and feed on.  Consequently, we got a couple of grizzlies rummaging around the enclosure for a long time.  Given their love for dozing this was a result.  I guess the polar bears had already been fed since they were out for the count.

The lions are always a stop for us.  The male was lying down and looked like he was falling asleep.  A lion roaring has a very small mouth shape which doesn’t look like much.  A lion yawning, on the other hand, has a wide mouth and lots of teeth.  A good photo opportunity!  A little patience and we were rewarded with a big view of fangs!  As an aside, lions are not empathetic creatures since we tried yawning a bunch of time to try and induce a yawn but to no effect!

Out last stop was the leopard.  Normally another one having a nap when we are there, this time he was also on the prowl.  We only had a few minutes before it was time to lie down again but even so, this was better than normal.  Not a bad day out!