Giraffes harvest most of the water they need from the leaves they eat, so they do not need to drink every day.
However, they do need to drink.
On that occasion, the current world’s longest necks are “not long enough”.
As every lion and crocodile knows, the only occasion when it is a good idea to “move in for the kill” on an adult giraffe is when that giraffe is drinking.
Every giraffe is acutely conscious that his or her “killer kick” defence system is entirely disabled whenever s/he has to splay his/her legs to enable his/her neck to reach down far enough to make drinking possible.
You will never see a “lone giraffe” at a waterhole, just as you will never see a “lone penguin” on an otherwise “empty” Antarctic or sub-Antarctic shore.
In either case, however, one among the hyper-watchful, nervous group may be braver or more desperate than the others; one penguin could jump into the water (or even be pushed in by some of the others) whilst all the others wait and watch to see how s/he fares. Likewise, one among a group of thirsty giraffes might commit to drinking before any of the others do.
If you look at the concluding image in #2 of this Okaukuejo waterhole trilogy, you will see that I took that photo ten minutes before I took the one above.
Sixteen minutes before I took the photo below, one giraffe had already decided to “go for it”, hoping that no lion lurked, and knowing that a rhino was present, very nearby.
The other giraffes were still circumspect at 10.01 pm.
A minute later, one giraffe felt safe enough.
Even after others had also plucked up the necessary courage – and notwithstanding the fact that the relevant rhino exhibited absolutely no aggression – the giraffes never became “a relaxed group, chillin’ at the local watering hole”.
In terms of “getting the water up that prodigious neck” and “blood pressure management as head goes down-down-down, then suddenly goes back up-up-up” the mechanics/physics of a giraffe drinking are utterly singular, at least among animals who currently inhabit “our” planet.
A future post will consider the giraffe’s blood pressure management; suffice for now that the relevant “normal” pressure would rapidly fell a human.
The “drinking mystery” was (probably) solved a few years ago by a physicist from Hawaii, after he’d been suitably amazed when observing giraffes at Etosha.
The answer, apparently: giraffes have their own “plunger pumps”!
Click here for the full story, with clear, explanatory diagrams.
For the next several weeks it may or may not prove possible for me to publish anything; certainly, if I am able to publish anything, it will be brief.
So, be not alarmed if you see nothing new on Pelican Yoga until mid-March…with luck, I and my beloved will have “harvested” some beautiful things, meanwhile…maybe, even images of something striped that does not resemble a zebra, nor share the same continent…nor temperament.