giraffes

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Calif. Couple Jailed in Africa After Buying Souvenir

They were told the carved giraffe bone was legal

(Newser) - A California couple on safari in Africa bought a souvenir that ended up being far more expensive than they could have imagined. Jon and Linda Grant picked up the souvenir, a 15- to 18-inch giraffe bone onto which a herd of elephants had been carved, at a game reserve in...

Rare White Giraffe 'Alive and Well' in Tanzania Park

But the unique animal could be at risk from poachers

(Newser) - A rare 15-month-old white giraffe has made another appearance in Tanzania, leaving conservationists to hope poachers don't decide to go all Ahab on it, the Telegraph reports. According to USA Today , the unique giraffe was spotted as a calf last year in Tarangire National Park. It was seen again...

Baby Giraffe Dies in 'Horrific' Accident at Miami Zoo

Juvenile injured spinal cord when his head got stuck in a fence

(Newser) - Staff at Zoo Miami are mourning the loss of a juvenile giraffe that had to be put down Tuesday after the 7-month-old got his head stuck in a fence. Wesley the giraffe poked his head into a 10-inch gap in a chain link fence on Tuesday, toward where another giraffe...

Baby Giraffe Dies in California Zoo Accident

Ugh

(Newser) - A baby giraffe born at a Central California zoo last month has died after running into a fence in an exhibit. KFSN-TV reports that the male giraffe born Sept. 9 at the Chaffee Zoo died Sunday afternoon. It happened during a special preview event for the new African Adventure exhibit...

Scientists Uncover Clues About Giraffe&#39;s Long Neck
Scientists Uncover Clues About Giraffe's Long Neck
NEW STUDY
Oct 7, 2015 10:24 AM CDT

Scientists Uncover Clues About Giraffe's Long Neck

Evolutionary bursts occurred 7M and 1M years ago

(Newser) - In further proof that size matters, the giraffe likely developed a long neck so males could battle each other for mates. If you've ever seen a male giraffe whip its foes , you'll know the neck can be an nasty weapon, with the added benefit that giraffes can reach...

Cute Animal Alert: Baby Giraffe Born in Wisconsin

The 157-pound newborn appears happy and healthy

(Newser) - Cute baby animal alert: The Milwaukee County Zoo has a newborn giraffe, the zoo's first one since 2003. The not-so-little guy—157 pounds and 5-feet-9-inches tall—was born to first-time parents Ziggy and Bahatika and appears happy and healthy. Zoo officials have yet to pick a name for the...

Scientists Finally Know What Sound a Giraffe Makes

It's a low-frequency hum

(Newser) - What does the giraffe say? For decades it’s been a simple answer: nothing, except for a snort or grunt every now and then. Though giraffes have a voice box, one line of thought was that due to their long necks it was too difficult for the creatures to generate...

Famous Baby Giraffe Breaks Neck in Tragic Accident

Kipenzi broke her neck while 'scampering'

(Newser) - It's a bad week for animal lovers: First Cecil , then Nabire , now Kipenzi. The baby giraffe died in a "heartbreaking" accident at the Dallas Zoo last night. The zoo details what happened on Facebook : "As the giraffe herd was shifting inside for the night, Kipenzi began scampering...

Giraffes Are Silently Disappearing

Group says numbers have dropped 40% in 15 years

(Newser) - It's apparently time to start worrying about giraffes. While they don't get the attention of elephants or other high-profile animals on the brink, new numbers from a conservation group show a startling decline: The world had 140,000 giraffes in 1999, and it has 80,000 today. “...

Woman Hops in Giraffe Pen, Gets Kicked in the Face

Wally the giraffe was not overjoyed to see her

(Newser) - Police say a California woman was cited after climbing into the giraffe exhibit at a Madison zoo and getting kicked in the face. A police report says 24-year-old Amanda Hall, of San Luis Obispo, Calif., climbed over one fence and almost got over the second fence of the giraffe enclosure...

Giraffe Killed After Head Hits Highway Bridge

...in grisly scene eerily similar to a clip from The Hangover Part III

(Newser) - The scene may have drawn a few giggles in The Hangover Part III , but the horrific, real-life death of a giraffe on a South African highway this week has animal rights activists fuming. A witness tweeted a picture of two giraffes sticking out of a truck on a highway, with...

How Giraffes' Skinny Legs Support All That Weight

Researchers discover a special ligament

(Newser) - With giraffes tipping the scales at 2,000 pounds or more, how on earth do those skinny legs support all that weight? Researchers think they've discovered the trick, and it involves an uber-supportive ligament tucked inside a groove in the animal's lower leg bones, reports Phys.org . Other...

Delta's 'Ghana Giraffe' Ignites Twitter Fury

There are no giraffes in Ghana

(Newser) - Delta Air Lines is getting an earful from the Internet over a postgame tweet. After the US beat Ghana in yesterday's World Cup match, Delta congratulated the American team with a pair of pictures, since deleted but viewable here . One showed the Statue of Liberty with the US score;...

Giraffe Nuzzles Dying Zoo Worker

Terminally ill man wanted to say goodbye

(Newser) - One of the week's viral photos got that way for a nice reason. The image shows a giraffe at the Blijdorp Zoo in Rotterdam, Netherlands, giving a kiss of sorts to a terminally ill zoo worker, reports ABC News . Mario Eijs, who is mentally disabled, has a brain tumor...

2nd Giraffe May Be Killed by Danish Zoo

Jyllands Park's Marius could be put down if the zoo finds female for breeding

(Newser) - First Marius, now ... Marius? After a young male giraffe was shot, dissected, and fed to animals at the Copenhagen Zoo on Sunday over concerns of inbreeding, a second Danish zoo says its giraffe of the same name may face a similar fate. Jyllands Park has two male giraffes, and it'...

Zoo Shoots, Dissects Young Giraffe—Feeds It to Lions

Copenhagen Zoo kills 'surplus' male over inbreeding, gets pretty graphic

(Newser) - The Copenhagen Zoo is facing more than a little wrath today after it put down a healthy young male giraffe with a bolt pistol and fed its meat to zoo carnivores—all over concerns about inbreeding, reports the AP . Two-year-old Marius was considered "surplus," reports the BBC , because...

Ancient Romans Ate Giraffe: Study

Also sea urchins

(Newser) - Researchers digging around the drains of ancient Pompeii have learned about some unusual Roman eating habits. The scientists found the remains of a giraffe and sea urchin in the drain of a onetime restaurant, LiveScience reports. "This is thought to be the only giraffe bone ever recorded from an...

Scotland's New Hero Is Man in Giraffe Suit

Armstrong Baillie does good deeds around country; got idea 'on the loo'

(Newser) - While sitting on the toilet, a jobless Scottish man had an idea: Why not dress as a giraffe and do good deeds for people? Now, Armstrong Baillie has developed a reputation as the Good Giraffe, and as said animal he's done kindnesses like cleaning beaches, giving runners bananas, and...

How Old Is That Giraffe? Check Its Spots

They get darker around the time of puberty

(Newser) - You can tell how old a male giraffe is by looking at its spots, according to a new study. Researchers looked at 33 years of data on Thornicroft giraffes in Zambia and discovered that the level of darkness of the animal's brown blotches reveals its age, reports BBC Nature...

Nightmare Zoo's Giraffe Dies, Stomach Full of Plastic

Overcrowding, infighting plague Indonesian facility

(Newser) - The death of a giraffe that had 40 pounds of plastic in its stomach—it ate trash routinely tossed into its pen—is just the latest crisis at Indonesia's biggest zoo. Two years back, a report said 25 of Surabaya Zoo's animals were dying monthly; that figure has...

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