absolutbill
Chameleon Enthusiast
Thanks for adding something to my bucket list! 
Back from Zambia with a question!
- Thread starter Andie
- Start date
laurie
Retired Moderator
View attachment 185657
How's this?.
We walked them and got to pet them. They are the most exquisite creatures I've encountered face to face!
Just count me green with envy! They look beautiful but not real. I know they are real, but my mind doesn't think of real that close to you!
Andie
Avid Member
The cheetahs really buried that experience.
Posting a new pic to show they are real. LOL!
These are my daughters. The one with his mouth open was yawning and I just caught it in time.
I thought my youngest was going to lay down in the grass with him!
Andie
Avid Member
I agree with you 100%!
Their faces are so perfectly designed, they almost look like masks.
But! When you hear the sounds they make, and see them lock their eyes on something far away and freeze..... Oh they are VERY real! Lol!
Right before they took them out, the handler said, " they run at 90 miles per hour, so please do not run."
jajeanpierre
Chameleon Enthusiast
@laurie You do not know how true your statement is! African wildlife looks so foreign, so alien, when you see it in the wild. Everyone has seen giraffes up close at a zoo but it is startling when you see them in the wild with their long necks poking up from behind acacia trees looking for all the world like giant flowers with long stamens sticking up. Everyone has seen a herd of horses or cows and it looks normal. We've all seen zebras and wildebeests in zoos. But in the wild it is so unreal and startling to see a herd of zebras or wildebeests.
Andie
Avid Member
I couldn't agree more! When we first entered the Safari reserve, there was a big herd of african buffalo coming towards us, and it seems so strange. Then, as we encountered giraffe, elephant, antelope, etc.., it just seemed out of place.
As grateful as I am to zoo experiences in childhood, that led me to fall in love with animals, I think they sort of ruined it for me. Does this make sense?
As you said, when you see them in their natural habitat, it just seems out of place somehow.
jajeanpierre
Chameleon Enthusiast
I'm so glad you saw and felt what I did. I had some incredible experiences in Tanzania. At one point, we had a full grown bull giraffe running beside us just 20 feet away from our truck. It was incredible, as though he was running in slow motion. He stayed running beside us for a long time.
laurie
Retired Moderator
It is nothing short of amazing the number of wonderful encounters with wild animals I have missed, in my life. Even with all the special things I was a part of at the San Diego zoo, it is not like the wild would be. I wonder if I really am too old to ever go do something like that?
jajeanpierre
Chameleon Enthusiast
It is nothing short of amazing the number of wonderful encounters with wild animals I have missed, in my life. Even with all the special things I was a part of at the San Diego zoo, it is not like the wild would be. I wonder if I really am too old to ever go do something like that?
Absolutely not too old. It just gets more expensive. When I went to Tanzania, I camped in a tent (and had lions cruise through our campsite!). We drank water out of puddles that had been purified. There is no way you would ever find me anywhere near a tent today.
Seeing the African animals in the wild is just so incredibly different than seeing them in a zoo. To see thousands of wildebeest and thousands of zebra at once as far as the eye can see. It is jarring to see them in the wild, it really is. I can't explain it but it is as if you are seeing them for the first time. The giraffes were incredible.
Andie
Avid Member
I'm curious to know if you've heard this factoid about the trees from which giraffes eat; Our guide told us the trees begin to emit a toxic or bad tasting substance, that causes the giraffe to move on. This occurs after about 10 min of eating from a tree.
He said giraffes have to move every 10 minutes. Have you ever heard that? How fascinating!
Andie...you might find this interesting...
https://spectregroup.wordpress.com/2010/01/08/acacia-self-defense/
I saw a documentary on t a couple of weeks ago talking about changes in trees and plants to attract or repel different creatures and insects. It even talked about the smell of the lawn when it's cut.
The roots of plants will share space with plants of their own kind yet increase root growth when planted next to a different species that would be competing with it for root space. It was so interesting!
https://www.wired.com/2009/10/plant-siblings/
https://spectregroup.wordpress.com/2010/01/08/acacia-self-defense/
I saw a documentary on t a couple of weeks ago talking about changes in trees and plants to attract or repel different creatures and insects. It even talked about the smell of the lawn when it's cut.
The roots of plants will share space with plants of their own kind yet increase root growth when planted next to a different species that would be competing with it for root space. It was so interesting!
https://www.wired.com/2009/10/plant-siblings/
Andie
Avid Member
Wow! Thank you! I'm a total geek for this stuff. LOL!
Andie
Avid Member
Hey, would you happen to remember the name of that documentary?
jajeanpierre
Chameleon Enthusiast
I think you got a better answer from @kinyonga than I could give. I've read articles about trees communicating with each other when assaulted by pests. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they emitted something the giraffes didn't like after 10 minutes of browsing. I didn't notice the giraffes moving on after 10 minutes but that's not to say they didn't. Browsers (as opposed to grazers) tend to grab a bite here and there as their eating style, so the guide might have been noticing a natural eating behavior that had nothing to do with the trees. But the guide might also be correct. Also, animals will tolerate toxic plants and undesirable forage depending on the scarcity of food. Starving animals will eat toxic plants if they have to.
