Children can learn what it’s like to have their heads in the clouds by impersonating Werribee Open Range Zoo’s giraffes during the school holidays.
The zoo will provide stilts in different sizes for children to emulate Africa’s gentle giants as part of the free Stand Tall for Giraffes program. Kids can also put together a giraffe skeleton using real bones on a flat template like a jigsaw puzzle and learn how many bones make up its two-metre neck.
Giraffe keeper Lance Weldhagen says the zoo’s six male giraffes are up to five metres tall and weigh more than 1000 kilograms.
One giraffe, Thembi, celebrated his sixth birthday last week but has a few more years to fully mature.
A behind-the-scenes encounter with giraffes allows people to feed the animals and see their blue, 35-40 centimetre tongues.
“People are taken in by the sheer size of them,” Mr Weldhagen says.
Zoo entry for children under 16 is free during the holidays. Stand Tall for Giraffes runs from 10am-2pm daily. The behind-the-scenes giraffe encounter costs
$65 for children and $80 for adults (bookings required).
» zoo.org.au/werribee/whats-on/stand-tall-for-giraffes
