Zoo has
never seriously interest me. As far as I remember I felt sorry for the
animals
- they
have too little space
- and they must instinctive know
- and suffered
with the feeling - not to belong!
Once a
year my father took me and my sisters and brothers to Copenhagen.
- by
train
- with picnics
- to visit the Zoo
- to me the greatest moment
was to eat the picnic.
"As far as
I know - all giraffes have a tuft in the end of their tails"
Danish
Zoos do not have email-addresses. Then I found an animal-professor on the
Internet. To know about this tuft, took up more and more space in my brain.
That's why I gave the question to the net-professors disposition. He let me know
- that it could take time before I got answer - and that I shouldn't press for
an answer.
After waiting for ½ a year he mailed me - an answer which didn't
make me cleverer - because he ended his mail this way:
He even
send a photo with a giraffe with a tuft" so I could see he was right. (I
preferred he said: "I don’t know")
I wrote him back, that I was still
wondering - he never answered that mail.
Now I wait for the Danish Zoo,
to get an email-address.
In the meantime I contacted the deer-park in
Knuthenborg - they do have an email-address.
It also is odd, that a very
intensive research on the Internet to find a photo of a giraffe without a tuft
was without result.
If it wasn't for my reliable husband, who is my witness I
would think - that I was a victim of hallucinations.
As quickly as - I
don't know what - I got an answer from the deer-park!
Hallo
Ann-Vibeke
The answer: "As far as I know all giraffes has a tuft in the end
of their tail" is correct. As other animals with hair in the end of the tail,
the giraffe is born with fine and protected tuft hair. If the nature was perfect
and legal - the "tuft-on-tail-animals" could keep that tuft until their death -
but the nature isn't that way! Wear - itching - bite from other animals and a
lot of other situations can cause, that the tuft isn't always as it should be.
You see that all around the animal-world. (even at the human beings).
I do
hope that this will answer your question!
Kind regards
Lisbeth
Høgh
Zoolog
Knuthenborg Park
DK-4941 Bandholm
Now I can
wonder, why the animal-professor didn’t gave me the same answer ;-)
Many years
later I went to the Zoo again. (My new husband (who is very fond of Zoo) invited
me). A giraffe-kid was just born - and we had to see it. I always happen to see
things, which isn't immediately, and I saw a different in the
giraffe-tails.
The little one had a tuft in the end of the tail.
Some
grownup-giraffe had too - some didn't. None of the giraffe was in such a
position, that I was able to decide the sex - the sign-board didn’t show the sex
of the giraffe-kid. And we left the giraffe-hall without knowing if this tuft
had to do with sex or age.
In
school-time we had to go to the Zoo because of biology-lessons.
The most
positive was then, that I didn't need to do my homework for that day.
I
did - for own free will take my son to Zoo - twice. It is always interesting to
look at your offspring in different situations. One of those 2 times I got a
special experience when an eider-bird fall in love in one of my shoes.
It
took crowd when the eider-bird started a mating-dance to the move of my foot. It
was funny, when he followed me around the Zoo and I thought it would be most
interesting, if he also followed me in to the buss. (but he
didn't)
