Anna and I (Toanh) recently visited Ong Ngoai and Ba Ngoai (Vietnamese names for Grandpa and Grandma) in California. My parents took us to the San Diego Zoo. What an amazing place. This 100-acre zoo is home to over 4,000 animals and 700,000 exotic plants.
As part of our admission pass, a 45 minute guided double-decker bus tour was included. I’ve been to a lot of zoos having a 6 and 3 year old, but I have never learned as much as I did about animals as I did during this tour.
As an OB/GYN and a mom, I was especially fascinated by the Masai giraffe’s reproduction. The Masai giraffe has a 15-month gestation (let me help with the math…that’s six more months than we have to endure!). She gives birth standing; and the delivery involves “dropping” the calf six feet to the ground - head first. This has litigation written all over it in human world. The fall does not hurt the calf but does cause it to take its first big breath. Baby giraffes are about 6 feet tall at birth and weigh close to 200 pounds. My 6#1 oz cesarean delivery with spinal anesthesia pales in comparison. Most giraffes have a singleton pregnancy but twins do occur rarely. Sadly, over 50-75% of giraffes in the wild die within their first year of life (mostly due to predators).
Yes, I learned all of that in about a 5-minute blurb during the tour. I am pretty sure that Anna was not as interested in this part of the tour as I was. She seemed more interested in the guy walking by selling cotton candy. At any rate, I am looking forward to seeing these Masai giraffes in Kenya. I am quite certain they will not need any of my OB/GYN services.
Hmm, fascinating! If my pregnancies had lasted an additional 6 months I think I'd definitely be done after the first child! Nine months is plenty long, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with the move next week. I'm excited to follow your journey via this blog. Safe travels!