{"id":37106,"date":"2014-12-08T06:30:40","date_gmt":"2014-12-08T14:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/?p=37106"},"modified":"2014-12-07T22:15:07","modified_gmt":"2014-12-08T06:15:07","slug":"giraffes-are-fascinating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/giraffes-are-fascinating\/","title":{"rendered":"Giraffes are Cool!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As a youngster, I spent many an hour at the zoo watching the Giraffe. I always wondered how such a crazy lookin critter lived in its world. There is nothing else that wanders our planet like a Giraffe, a critter which looks so calm yet can have some amazingly violent fights. They roam alone and in small groups and occasionally, even fall prey to the large predators. Photographing them is to some extent a challenge. In the region of South Africa where we were at, the open woodland scrub, doesn’t make watching Giraffes easy. They not only blend in but believe it or not, can actually hide really well. And while not shy, they didn’t walk right up to us like the Leopards. These shots were taken with the D4s<\/a> \/ 800mm<\/a> in order to get intimidate with them as well as isolate them from their surroundings. I went over thinking these would be short lens subjects. Another lesson learned. Nothing will replace though my first seeing them on the way in from the airport and I don’t think I’ll ever get enough field time watching them go about their day. Giraffes are just cool!<\/p>\n

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And while we didn’t see a lot of Giraffes, we did see them in small groups many times during our safari. I really didn’t think anything of it, not seeing them everywhere, I had gone to Africa with the impression they were “common.” But I went to Africa with many impressions which mostly turned out to be wrong so didn’t think anything of it until a couple of days ago. That’s when I read this piece Giraffes are silently disappearing<\/a>, and it really had me wondering based on what I saw first hand. They call it a “silent extinction” in the piece but when compared to elephant numbers, it’s a rather alarming extinction. It messes with the mind and heart to have so easily seen these magnificent and puzzling critters in the wild only to learn they are disappearing. I guess the truly sad thing is how silent we’re letting things slip away. If you’ve ever seen a Giraffe in a zoo, you’ve never really seen a Giraffe. At least, that’s what I learned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a youngster, I spent many an hour at the zoo watching the Giraffe. I always wondered how such a crazy lookin critter lived in its world. There is nothing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Giraffes are Fascinating! http:\/\/wp.me\/p6YJx-9Eu and disappearing @NikonUSA @Nikon_SA @imagesinafrica","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-37106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wildlife-photography"],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Podcast.jpg?fit=1500%2C1500&quality=100&ssl=1","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"amazon":{"key":"amazon","url":"https:\/\/www.audible.com\/pd\/Podcast\/B08JJQC1GR?ref=a_pd_item-n_c0_bc&pf_rd_p=1da7ab30-c785-4a0e-a160-4a7e7077b353&pf_rd_r=EEDMYHQM3DZ05FPRTHMJ","label":"Amazon","class":"amazon","icon":"amazon.png"},"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"rss":{"key":"rss","url":"","label":"RSS","class":"rss","icon":"rss.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/2fRA9VaVfSdQMKf1ipxr0tipxr0t","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"itunes":{"key":"itunes","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/moose-podcast\/id1107405746","label":"iTunes","class":"itunes","icon":"itunes.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/feed\/podcast\/moose-podcast","embedCode":"

Giraffes are Cool!<\/a><\/blockquote>