A Giraffe Calf Grows Up (Baby Animals)

A

GIRAFFE CALF GROWS

UP

by Joan Hewett

photographs by Richard Hewett

A

GIRAFFE

CALF

GROWS

UP

by Joan Hewett photographs by Richard Hewett

t

CAROLRHODA

BOOKS,

INC./ MINNEAPOLIS

IN A WILD

ANIMAL PARK

Hobbs is a giraffe calf. He was just born. 2

Hobbs sits up.

He feels his mother’s warm tongue.

She licks him clean.

3

Hobbs is hungry. He has to stand up to drink. The newborn calf is 6 feet tall!

4

At first his legs wobble. But he can drink his mother’s milk.

5

Hobbs stands by his mother’s side. He watches the other giraffes.

6

There are 15 giraffes in the park.

They form a herd.

The gentle animals like to be together.

7

JOINING THE HERD

Hobbs is a few days old.

His mother licks him.

She shows him off to the herd.

8

The other giraffes greet the new calf. They nudge him with their noses. They are friendly.

Hobbs is 3 weeks old.

His legs aren’t wobbly anymore.

10

The calf is curious.

What are the other giraffes doing?

He stretches his neck to see.

11

It’s almost nighttime. The zookeepers open the big barn door.

All the giraffes enter the barn.

Hobbs walks in next to his mother.

12

The giraffes spend the night in the barn. The barn keeps them warm and dry.

13

It’s morning. The keepers fill the feed bins. The grown-up giraffes eat the hay. 14

Hobbs stays by his mother. When he is hungry, he drinks his mother’s milk. He’s too young to chew hay.

15

The park hums with activity. People drive by in their cars. A giraffe greets a visitor. 16

Hobbs is shy. He hides behind his mother’s back.

17

Adult giraffes graze on leaves from the treetops. Hobbs is 3 months old. He cannot reach that high. 18

The giraffe calf rubs his head on a tree trunk. He eats a leaf that’s on the ground.

19

EATING AND DRINKING

Hobbs is 4 months old.

He stretches his long neck.

He wraps his long tongue around a leaf.

Snap! He tears it off.

20

A keeper comes by.

Hobbs runs back to his mother.

21

It‘s a hot day. Hobbs is thirsty. He walks to the lake’s edge. The gangly calf spreads his front legs.

22

He bends his heavy neck. He drinks the cool water.

23

Hobbs is 9 months old. He still drinks his mother’s milk. But he can chew hay too.

24

Hobbs chews and swallows hay. Later, he brings it up from his stomach. He chews and swallows it again. 25

GROWING UP TAKES

A LONG TIME

The giraffes have eaten. It is time to rest. Adults rest standing up. But Hobbs’s legs are not that strong. He sits down to rest. 26

Getting up is hard work.

Hobbs is a contented 2-year-old calf. He eats treats from a keeper’s hand.

28

Hobbs runs with the other calves. In a few years, Hobbs will be grown up.

29

More about Giraffes The giraffe is the tallest of all the animals that live on the land. An adult male giraffe stands between 15 and 18 feet high. At 10 years old, he is considered full grown. Even so, a giraffe can continue to grow very slowly for most of its life. Giraffes have two-toed hooves like deer, sheep, and cows. But the giraffe’s neck is quite a bit different. Scientists think that the giraffe is descended from long-necked hooved animals that lived millions of years ago. Giraffes, like humans, have 7 neck bones. But a giraffe’s neck is about 6 feet long. Its neck bones are big and heavy. The giraffe has strong neck muscles to support its neck bones. The giraffe’s extra large heart pumps blood all the way up to its head. Giraffes live in Africa. The plains of central and eastern Africa are dotted with acacia trees. Acacia leaves are the giraffe’s favorite food. Other hooved animals roam these great plains. But only the giraffe and the elephant are tall enough to eat from the treetops.

30

In their search for food, giraffes may leave one herd and join another. Male giraffes may go off by themselves. While their calves are young, mother giraffes stay with a herd. The mothers feed each other’s calves. The calves spend most of their time playing together.

More about Wild Animal Parks Hobbs lives in the Six Flags Wild Safari Park in Jackson, New Jersey, with 14 other giraffes. During the day, these gawky but graceful animals roam an area of the park called the African Plain. The animals are not free. But they do have a secure and comfortable home.

31

INDEX

barn, 12–13

For our grandsons, Orson Ridgely, Jesse Angelo, and Nathan Morris

drinking milk, 5, 6, 15, 24 drinking water, 22–23 eating, 14, 18–20, 24–25

Text copyright © 2004 by Joan Hewett

Photographs copyright © 2004 by Richard R. Hewett

All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be

reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—

electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written

permission of Carolrhoda Books, Inc., except for brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

giraffe herd, 7, 9, 11–14, 18, 29

This book is available in two editions:

Library binding by Carolrhoda Books, Inc., a division of Lerner Publishing Group

Soft cover by First Avenue Editions, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group,

241 First Avenue North

Minneapolis, MN 55401 U.S.A.

legs, 4, 10, 26

Website address: www.lernerbooks.com

mother, 3, 5, 12, 17, 21 zookeepers, 12, 21, 28

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hewett, Joan. A giraffe calf grows up / by Joan Hewett ; photographs by Richard Hewett. p. cm. — (Baby animals) Summary: Describes the development of Hobbs, a giraffe living in a wild animal park, from birth to age two years.

ISBN: 1–57505–775–1

1. Giraffe—Infancy—Juvenile literature. [1. Giraffe. 2. Animals—Infancy. I. Hewett, Richard, ill. II. Title. III. Series.

QL737.U56H49 2004

599.638—dc22

2003011751 Manufactured in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 – DP – 09 08 07 06 05 04