African Necklace

My photo today shows a necklace I received as a gift from my sister when she had a posting in Harare, Zimbabwe.

This necklace has six animals carved from wood and yes there is an elephant amongst them.  

While visiting Ruth in Zimbabwe I had the chance to see most of these animals in the wild or in animal reserves.  Yes, we saw giraffes, and zebras.  Rhinos and lions too.  Not sure if I saw a cheetah.  Today I want to tell you a bit about giraffes and zebras.

Giraffes are the tallest mammal in the world. Giraffes stand up pretty much all the time.  Baby giraffes can stand as soon as half an hour after being born.

Giraffes are friendly and social animals by nature.  In the wild, they live in herds.  A group of giraffes is called a tower.  Giraffes spend their time travelling, eating and resting together.

Giraffes spend most of their day eating because they get just a few leaves with each bite. Giraffes live up to 26 years in the wild and slightly longer in captivity.

A zebra is a species of wild horse that lives in Africa. Zebras are not merely striped horses, they are a different species from the horse.  

There are three living species of zebras.  They are the Grévy's zebra, plains zebra, and the mountain zebra.  Grévy's zebra was named after a former King. Jules Grévy was the former King of France.  He was gifted a zebra from the King of Abyssinia in 1882. Abyssinia is now known as Ethiopia. The scientific name for the Grévy's zebra is known as Equus grevyi.  

Zebras stripes are unique like fingerprints.  Each individual zebra has its own unique striped pattern.  That means that no two zebras are ever the same.  Their stripes help camouflage them and the zebra’s pattern also acts as a natural sunscreen and an insect repellent.

Zebras are far more aggressive than most animals.  They will even kick each other to death and if a human comes too close they can viciously bite you. 

I remember driving throughout Zimbabwe and seeing giraffes and zebras.  We stayed in the vehicle and watched them from a distance. 

# living life abundantly    # published author