Tall Blondes: A Book About Giraffes
1997. Lynn Sherr. Andrews McMeel Publishing,
Kansas City. 168 pp. Hardbound, $16.95.
The
other day as I walked passed the giraffe exhibit at the Zoo
I heard a thrilled teenage girl exclaim, "Wow, I’ve
never seen a giraffe. Look at that!" With a teenager
of my own, I know that such excitement is a more likely response
to a fan ‘zine pic of Leonardo DiCaprio than the sight
of a live animal. More surprising is that a giraffe evoked
this response. On safari, most people ignore the relatively
common giraffes after the first sighting. Lions, leopards,
elephants, and rhinos are what tourists hope to shoot with
their cameras. In the Zoo, too, giraffes generally attract
only passing attention as visitors rush on to see Hsing-Hsing
the giant panda. There don’t seem to be giraffe groupies
as there are gorilla groupies and tiger groupies.
In Lynn Sherr, however, that dazzled teenager will find a soul mate, just as the tall, blonde Sherr found soul mates among giraffes. Sherr, better known as an ABC news correspondent, is a giraffe super-groupie. Her delightful book, Tall Blondes: A Book About Giraffes, makes the case for giraffes being the most spectacular of all beasts. Moreover, she see giraffes as metaphors for ourselves:
To my mind, giraffes are a stately, serene presence in a tumultuous world. They embody the best and worst of all of us: the awkwardness that inhibits our social lives; the poise that inhabits our dreams. Watch a giraffe splay its legs to take and drink and you will know the true meaning of insecurity. Watch a herd gallop across the savanna and you will grasp the essence of elegance.
In her tribute to giraffes, Sherr mined the world’s science, literature, and art for references to her beloved giraffes and struck gold. She quotes passages from Roman natural historian Pliny the Elder and Arabic geographer Abu Bakr Ibn al-faqih to hunter-conservationist Teddy Roosevelt to contemporary biologist (and fellow giraffe fan) Cynthia Moss. She explains why NASA is interested in how a giraffe maintains blood flow from its heart to its distant brain, and prevents it brain from drowning in blood when it bends its neck to the ground. And she address the age-old question of why giraffes have such long necks. Surprisingly, to reach vegetation unavailable to other browsers is not the answer.
Sherr also uncovered a plethora of giraffes depicted in African rock and cave art dated to more than 5,000 years ago, in the cartoons of Gary Larson, and in all manner of art from Roman frescoes to African postage stamps. All of these images and many more illustrate and complement the text. Perhaps the only giraffe-thing left out is a discussion of songwriter Paul Simon’s characterization of giraffes as "insincere." (I’ve always wondered about that—why insincere? What lies does the mostly silent giraffe ever tell?)
Finally, Sherr discusses giraffe conservation. Giraffes are not now considered endangered; perhaps that’s why they seem less glamorous to us than elephants and rhinos. But like large mammals the world over, they have less and less room to roam as we claim more and more of the wilderness for ourselves. This alone is cause for concern, for taking efforts to ensure a future for wild giraffes. As Sherr concludes, "Of what use is a giraffe? I just like knowing it exists. Sure, I’m biased, but I can’t imagine a world without tall blondes.
Don’t miss ZooGoer’s round-up of wild fiction for vacation reading, coming in the next issue.
—Susan Lumpkin
(ZooGoer 27(3) 1998. Copyright 1998 Friends of the National Zoo. All rights reserved.)
