Public giraffe feeds today. I'll share some of the girls' shenanigans.
So, giraffes have very long tongues. About 18 inches. And their saliva is really thick and sticky, which protects their mouths from the thorny plants they eat in Africa.
At the end of public giraffe feeds, my hands are covered in that saliva, since I feed the giraffes little bits of lettuce to keep them around and interested. It was hard to wash off today, since there was more than usual. I was trying to feed our youngest giraffe, but her mom was in the way. As I reached out with the lettuce, mom giraffe (Barbro) wanted it for herself. She tried to grab it from me, and ended up taking my entire hand in her mouth. Twice.
It doesn't hurt. They can't really bite, since they have front teeth only on the bottom - not the top. But I was surprised XP And amused.
Anyway, that was a new experience. What isn't new, but still funny, is when the giraffes are too impatient for the next piece of lettuce and stretch their tongue out demanding more immediately (they grab the lettuce with their long tongues).
And when they're done with their lettuce for the day, sometimes they think I'm still holding lettuce and wrap their tongues around my fingers and try to reel my hand in before they realize that I'm out of lettuce.
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