Necking
Wednesday, May 7, 2008 at 2:40AM We need to have a very important discussion about giraffes.
How do you move them?
My home zoo in Cincinnati is building a new home for the giraffes, which means that they had to clear out for a while. They're crashing on a pullout couch right now in Cleveland's zoo.
How did they get there?
I'm thinking not standing up, like in an episode of Jim The Small Child Nephew's Curious George cartoons, which showed a giraffe on a train, its neck sticking out above the railcar. Which, initially, makes sense, but I foresee Serious Issues when it's time to go through a tunnel.
Maybe they use a truck and put the giraffe in a NASA-style payload cannister. But, again: Overpasses.
I've seen giraffes sit--I suppose this is their giraffe-casual, hanging out posture-- but I imagine it's difficult to get them to stay there for a five-hour journey to Cleveland. I wouldn't. I'd have to get up to pee at least twice.
I guess maybe the handlers tranquilize the giraffes, lay them down, and toss 'em in the back of an 18-wheeler. Which has to be quite the waking-up experience for the giraffe. "Well, this morning I suppose I'll get to eating those leaves over by the... Wait a-- What th--Am I in Cleveland?"
savannas at: mbe@drinktothelasses.com
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Perhaps they go like this:
http://www.greenvilledailyphoto.com/index.php/2007/06/19/how-to-get-giraffes-home/
And here's an actual giraffe transport story - this particular giraffe does not look tranquilized to me!
http://www.brookfieldzoo.org/pgpages/pagegen.302.aspx
You know, waking up and realizing you're in Cleveland is not quite as bad as you would think.
A few years ago the Indianapolis Zoo needed to relocate their penguins while they did some renovations. How do you send a flock of penguins to Texas? Well, the U-Haul idea didn't exactly work out... let's just say that the traffic accident did not increase the penguins' lifespans.
Hey Kris, thanks for the page links. They back up what I was going to say, which was:
Somewhere I'd seen that they just use tall trailers, and a carefully planned route.
"I’m thinking not standing up, like in an episode of Jim The Small Child Nephew’s Curious George cartoons, which showed a giraffe on a train, its neck sticking out above the railcar. Which, initially, makes sense, but I foresee Serious Issues when it’s time to go through a tunnel."
Hey, they pulled that same stunt on "Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade" —May 22 everyone!!!!
But I do buy the tranquilizer theory. That's why the giraffes end up being http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0351283/" rel="nofollow">hypocondriac I guess ;-)
PS: And yes, in case you were wondering, my mind is one big pile of trivial knowledge gathered from all sorts of media entertainment. Just don't ask me the dates of my parents' birthdays or stuff like that.
Thanks for the links. As I was reading MBs article, I was thinking, I will not get any work done today as I would have to research how exactly they can move giraffes.
You know, waking up and realizing you’re in Cleveland is not quite as bad as you would think.
Perhaps not, but waking up and realizing you're at Rainbow Babies Hospital in Cleveland pretty much sucks. Especially at the age of 5. Sorry, long story.
I'm pleased to now know how giraffes are transported. Hurrah for the ever-awesome Brookfield Zoo for having such random information on their website.
Kell Belle, you're so right!
Procrastination rocks...especially when you have something way more interesting to do, like find pictures of giraffes in tractor trailers :-)
Happy to oblige. I am "Information Central" according to my family. Whenever anyone needs to know something, they ask me to do the research...
*The More You Know* (cue NBC's logo and music...)
I wondered where the giraffes went! I took my nephews to the Cincy Zoo a few weeks ago. The signage seemed to indicate that the giraffes were hanging out with the elephants. We hiked all the way around that exhibit, but we couldn't find them. My sister pointed out that it would be kind of hard to hide them since they were so tall, but I couldn't imagine that they had moved them out of the zoo.
Oh well. At least we got to experience Sponge Bob in 4-D. I'm not sure why that is located at the zoo, but the boys really enjoyed it. My sister and I walked out of the theatre craving dill pickles...
Yes, there is all kinds of construction going on. Jim The Small Child Nephew isn't a fan of all the noise, but then he found out that Mama Peg donated to the new pavilion on behalf of his mother. So now he's eager to go see Mommy's giraffe.
I'm partial myself, having first fed them in Colorado Springs. Hurling treats at a giraffe on the side of the mountain is good times for me.