Oooh, haven’t we been a naughty bunch of slackers here at Total-Geek.com: no updates for like, AGES. Tsk tsk.
Well, we’ve been BUSY. And just to prove it so you’ll get off our backs with your tsk-ing, here’s what we’ve been up to. We’ve been to Melbourne! Most of my work colleagues find it extraordinary that someone who has lived in Australia all her life has never been to Melbourne, but in my defense I am a –terrible- flyer and to make matters worse, my Stemetil failed me!!!
A doctor who got airsick on a 2.5 hour flight despite antiemetic medication. Just disgraceful.
Anyway, once there, no troubles at all in the emesis department and we proceeded to Werribee Open Range Zoo, which is about a 35min shuttle ride out of the CBD. We pre-booked via the zoo website and were picked up outside the Victorian Arts Centre. Weather was lovely, we got there nice and early and had time for a wander about the place and take happysnaps. The zoo itself is lovely and clean and the animals seemed perfectly happy (but I’m a doctor, not a vet, so.) [Editor: Sorry I couldn't help myself. Here is the real doctor link]
As for the giraffe encounter itself, our group consisted of 5 people and our wonderful guide John was very friendly and knowledgeable and no question was too stupid. They say “there are no stupid questions,” but you should hear some that we came up with. Mostly the culprit was Head Geek asking about ruminant poop, which for your information is extremely dry and compact and has no discernible individual grass fibres within it, demonstrating the efficacy of the ruminant digestive system.
So the group was bundled into the van and taken behind the scenes. We saw the new giraffe house (read: really really big garden shed with really really big door, open plan living and comes fully equipped with radiant heaters for those chilly Melbourne winter nights :D) being built and were told that as far as intelligence goes, giraffe are perhaps not the brightest spark to arise from the Van Der Graaf Generator of nature. They forget how to get into their winter houses if they stop going into them for a few months. Well, I suppose you don’t have to have a keen, incisive intellect in order to hunt acacia tree.
And then we got to hand feed a giraffe. Actually we were supposed to be hand feeding TWO giraffe, but the younger one (Mr Kinta) got suspicious and wandered away after about 5 minutes, so Tony got the entire feed to himself! We fed them lots of leafy greens (I didn’t catch the name, sorry) on branches, and carrot and apple which Tony took from our hands with his prehensile tongue and chewed with apparent relish. They are not quite close enough for one to physically pat, (particularly if like me, you’re a little deficient in the height department) but the encounter was really quite lovely and Head Geek and I are very happy we signed up.
I should mention too that aside from the Giraffe Encounter, Werribee offers other animal encounters and another that we would have loved to do had we the foresight to sign up early was the Lion Rip Roaring Feed. Next time, definitely. Included in your admission is the general 45min Safari Tour, which gets you pretty close to the critters in the Open Range section of the zoo. Werirbee is home to several quite rare species of antelope, including the Scimitar-Horned Oryx which is believed to be extinct in the wild. And for those of you going on the tour, a little heads-up: a giraffe has the same number of cervical vertebrae as a human, and its heart can weigh anything up to 12kg! And just how does a giraffe avoid syncopal episodes with its head 2m away from its heart? A complex system of blood vessels and valves prevents postural hypotension! Amazing!
Time for me to have a little gripe. Now, I think it’s fantastic that kids go to zoos with their parents. I know outings with large animals are unavoidably exciting and kids are difficult to keep calm in the face of so much excitement. But the number of times I overheard parents giving their kids blatantly incorrect information about the animals they were seeing-it annoys me SO much!! Read the signs guys: that’s NOT an emu-it’s an ostrich. Those AREN’T hyenas-they’re African Wild Dogs. That’s NOT a Gorilla-it’s a Mandrill. Do your research, educate your children and foster a love for natural history. Little minds soak information in like sponges, and it’s important that you as parents give them the correct information.
Ok, I’m done now.
So, in summary, the Tall Order Giraffe Encounter was a lovely experience. Zoo staff were friendly, approachable and knowledgeable and we highly recommend a geeky field trip to Werribee Zoo, with or without your kids. If you’re going with your children, I think it would be wonderful to treat the trip as an educational opportunity, take the time to do some reading and research about the animals with the kids beforehand and the experience will really cement the knowledge into their growing minds. And us Big Kids will no doubt learn a thing or two as well.
For some high resolution images of the Giraffes and other animals at the Werribee Zoo, follow the following links.
