The baby elephants at the Shendrick Elephant Orphanage
I went to the Shendrick Elephant Orphanage on my second day in Kenya. This place is strictly for orphaned elephant babies to get them ready to be released back into the wild. They were quite adorable and it was a very interesting. Most elephants are orphaned due to poaching. The biggest destination for elephant tusks is China. Now that the Chinese are becoming more affluent, ivory has become a status symbol and the demand for elephant ivory is huge. This just infuriates me. How can such an ancient civilization that for the most part produces pretty intelligent people, be so ignorant to the damage they cause rare wildlife just because of status, or better yet, virility. This orphanage is also to help Black Rhinos which are in pretty dire straits.
A baby suckling the speakers hand like a soother
They had one Rhino there who was blind so whose fate was to live out its days in captivity as it would be toast in the wild. Black Rhino tusks again are largely coveted by the Chinese for their apparent medicinal qualities. They are supposed to make men more virile and act as an aphrodisiac. Give me a break. If you can’t get it up then go get some viagra and leave the Rhino’s alone. I mean really, how stupid is that, that a horn is going to make a man more virile. Again all I can say is wake up and smell the coffee and get real. As you can see this topic gets me a little hot under the collar. So I had better get off it.
Me getting close and personal with a giraffe. These animals are HUGE and amazing.
Next we went to the Giraffe Centre. Did you know that Giraffes make no sound? They also have the largest heart which is not surprising given their size and the fact that they have to pump blood all the way up that neck to their brain. They were just lovely creatures to play with.
A nice wet gooey kiss from the giraffe!
Their tongues are purple and pretty tough but still soft. They move both legs on the same side at the same time instead of alternating legs on either side. If that makes sense to you. It makes their movement look strange – sort of like waves on the ocean – it is just hard to describe. It is quite fun being able to see these animals in such close quarters even though it is not their natural setting. You can really appreciate their personalities and characteristics when you get to be this close and personal. I would love to work with animals at this level.
Yup - I'm bigger than you!
lovely giraffes – lucky you
Yea they were pretty neat.