I’m envious of giraffes

Giraffes are proof God has a sense of humor. I think I read that somewhere, or it was a line in a movie. Anyway, it seems to fit the bill. How they evolved must have been a miraculous series of specialized steps to get those bones “stretched” and mold their bodies to work in their oddly graceful gait. And those eyelashes! Oh my! I know giraffe eyelashes have got to be the root of the fashion craze women have adopted for two- and three-inch lash extensions.

I envy those eyelashes. I was born with stubby eyelashes. But I can’t do fake eyelashes. Just too weird for me. I have enough problems keeping my eyes open. The added weight of those lashes would impair my vision. Plus, then I’d probably have to get contacts because lashes that length have to mess up your glasses’ lenses.

Llamas have exceptionally long eyelashes, as well. They are pretty cool, too. But that spitting thing puts me off.

Giraffes seem like that have a lovely and gentle temperament. I watched a documentary on them, and a herd visited a home in Africa every morning. They poked their heads into the open second story window to be petted, say a “hello” and nibble some breakfast treats. Then they moseyed on back to the trees on the fringe of the property to munch on leaves and do whatever else giraffes do all day. It all seemed so serene.  And their coat patterns. Gorgeous. There are four giraffe species and five sub species, all with their own coat pattern. At first glance, the eight patterns look similar. But they are all quite distinct.

The elegance of their long-necked, long-legged odd movement is entrancing. Even their gallop is spellbinding. For all that, their unwieldy bodies do come with some specialized functions and problems.

They have extreme blood pressure and tight skin and facia in their legs to aid blood vessels in pushing blood uphill to the heart and brain several feet above them. NASA studied this system in giraffes to design anti-gravity suits for astronauts and combat the loss of vein strength in their legs during space flights. Because giraffes give birth standing up, the babies drop over five feet to the Savannah floor when they are born. Ouch. Males, when they breed a cow, will sometimes “fall off” and land with their back legs crossed behind them and can’t get up. And die. Brings a whole new picture to “Help, I’ve fallen and can’t get up.”

Overall, their grace, calm demeanor, pretty hides and those eyelashes have me enthralled with this weirdly put-together creature.