Detroit Zoo pt. 6 -- Giraffes (photo essay)

The giraffe exhibit at the Detroit Zoo is really neat, so I decided to post most (not all) of the photos I took of the giraffes.

In the 1930's, German artist Joseph Pallenberg came to the Detroit Zoo to design a tribute to civilization's first zoo keepers, the ancient Egyptians. Constructed by twelve hundred workers from the Civil Works Administration in 1931, the giraffe house was open until 1962. This is a rather bad photo from the Detroit Zoo website showing the how as it looked before 1994.

A 1994 renovation allowed the building to re-open. Today, visitors can view the giraffes from within the historic structure. I actually have NEVER been inside it. Since we were at the zoo when it was July, the giraffes were all outside.

The bronze giraffe statue that is outside the enclosure.

Here is the best shot I have of the Giraffe house (remember I had 4 kids with me). This is my favorite building at the Zoo. Even as a kid, I loved looking at the building and the Egyptian heiroglyphics. The colors are now bright and vivid again.

See all the animals painted on the side too.

These are reticulated giraffes, and their names are Chardo, Raspberry and Ajax . Sorry, I don't know which name belongs with which one.

The baby giraffe was adorable....and I was able to get fairly close up to him.

He was grabbing low tree branches with his purple black tounge....isn't he cute?

I could have just watched this little guy all day...but the kids of coarse were ready to move on to the bears....