photographs by Richard Hewett

A GIRAFFE

CALF GROWS

UP

by Joan Hewett

A GIRAFFE

CALF GROWS

UP by Joan Hewett

photographs by Richard Hewett

t C A R O L R H O D A B O O K S , I N C . / M I N N E A P O L I S

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

6

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

There are 15 giraffes in the park. They form a herd. The gentle animals like to be together.

7

8

J HERDOINING THE

Hobbs is a few days old. His mother licks him. She shows him off to the herd.

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

Hobbs is 3 weeks old.

10

His legs aren’t wobbly anymore.

11

The calf is curious. What are the other giraffes doing? He stretches his neck to see.

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

13

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

14

The keepers fill the feed bins. It’s morning.

The grown-up giraffes eat the hay.

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

15

16

People drive by in their cars. The park hums with activity.

A giraffe greets a visitor.

17

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

Hobbs is 3 months old. He cannot reach that high.

18

Adult giraffes graze on leaves from the treetops.

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

19

E DRINKINGATING AND

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.

22

The gangly calf spreads his front legs. He walks to the lake’s edge.

He bends his heavy neck.

23

He drinks the cool water.

Hobbs is 9 months old.

But he can chew hay too. He still drinks his mother’s milk.

24

He chews and swallows it again.

25

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

GROWING UP TAKES

It is time to rest. Adults rest standing up.

He sits down to rest.

A LONG TIME

The giraffes have eaten.

But Hobbs’s legs are not that strong.

26

Getting up is hard work.

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

28

In a few years, Hobbs will be grown up.

29

Hobbs runs with the other calves.

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.

But Scientists think that the

giraffe is descended from long-necked hooved animals that lived millions of years ago.

More about Giraffes

The giraffe is the tallest of all the animals that live on the land.

Giraffes have two-toed hooves like deer, sheep, and cows. the giraffe’s neck is quite a bit different.

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

Male giraffes may go off by themselves. While their calves are young, mother giraffes stay with a herd. The mothers

The calves spend most of their time

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.

In their search for food, giraffes may leave one herd and join another.

feed each other’s calves. 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

31

INDEX barn, 12–13

drinking water, 22–23

eating, 14, 18–20, 24–25

drinking milk, 5, 6, 15, 24

legs, 4, 10, 26

giraffe herd, 7, 9, 11–14, 18, 29

mother, 3, 5, 12, 17, 21

zookeepers, 12, 21, 28

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

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.

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.

Website address: www.lernerbooks.com

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