Zoo Captures Rare Video of Giraffe Calf 'Talking'
You normally notice giraffes standing around majestically, or gracefully loping along with a baby calf. Of all the animals seen on a typical safari, they usually seem like the strong, silent type.
Really think about it, though — what does a giraffe actually say? Have you ever heard one speak up, in any situation you can recall?
Remember that game from way back in grade school? The teacher would share animal quiz questions, and the class would get to make silly noises.
My first-grade teacher grew up on a farm, apparently. Her questions always involved barnyard animals.
“What does the cow say?” she’d ask in her ridiculously cheerful Monday-morning voice. And right on cue, every kid in the room would reply “Mooooooooooo” and start giggling.
But she just wasn’t willing to leave it alone. “What does the duck say?” she’d query, eyes narrowed like she actually had a chance of fooling us.
“Quack quack quack quack quack quack quack,” we’d all reply enthusiastically. It always took about five minutes for that one to fully die down.
Of course, there were other popular options, too. Our well-rehearsed repertoire also included the sheep, the chicks, the horse, the pig, the dog, the cat, and — our group favorite by far — the rooster.
But our teacher never once asked us what the giraffe says. She was probably like most people, and had no idea.
Incredibly, though, the Abilene Zoo in Texas recently captured extremely rare video footage of a baby giraffe vocalizing.
This newest member of the herd gave an adorable shout-out, for unknown reasons — and it’s certainly impressing the social media community.
According to Live Science, animal researchers know comparatively little about the way giraffes use vocalization to communicate.
It’s even been previously suggested that a giraffe’s super-long neck could make sharing their “voice” physically impossible. But thanks to this latest video evidence, it appears that’s clearly not the case.
In fact, they sound a bit bovine. If you only heard the sound and didn’t see the cute, splotchy youngster, you might think it was a cow.
That makes sense, when you know that males are referred to as bulls, females as cows, and babies as calves.
In the classroom of life, looks like it’s never too late to learn something new and amazing.
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