Hypothetical question about giraffes

[Curlygirl06]

Dh and I were having a debate about giraffes (wild evening here!).
If you had a pet giraffe and you took it out for a walk, would you put a collar and lead up the top by its head, or down the bottom of its neck by its body?
One of us thinks it should go up by its head, so that you could gently pull its head down if you were going under a low bridge, for example, or pull it to the side if you were going round a corner so it could see where its going.
One of us thinks it should be by the body as otherwise you'd have a bloody long lead (duh, it's a giraffe so obvs!) and you could guide it just as well from the bottom as up the top.
YANBU of course it should be at the top by the head.
YABU of course it should be at the bottom of its neck near the body.

I think an extendable wrist attachment from my giraffe to me. On his wrist and on mine, like with naughty toddlers. I love giraffes, I'm desperate to have one in my garden.

Perfect!!

You’d need a pretty odd shaped house though, and the giraffe would be constantly banging its head against door frames or getting a crick in its neck.

Another option we never thought of. There's a lot of things that we hadn't considered, this thread is a valuable tool to ensure this matter is debated thoroughly.

I've just asked DP the giraffe & collar question & he said "Are you on Mumsnet?" 😂

Also what on earth are these two up too on this photo (presuming it's real)

Exactly - thoroughly underwhelming! Unless the human half looked like Henry Cavill, Tom Hardy or a young Josh Hartnett….then and only then, would I be more inclined to forgive the lack of “stretch” involved! 😂

What was this amazing job? It sounds wonderful.

How much wine have you had?!!! 😁

Again, never thought of the slack in the lead when it bent its neck, health and safety needs to be considered, thank you.

Needs a headcollar. Like a horse. Much better control. You would need a long lead rope though.

Altho' @TyneTeas , that could have a different connotation in the wrong hands...

What's his name?

So I was thinking - Peggy in reference to Pegasus and Mitchell as in “It’s all about family” and what is family but a collection of individuals. So a collective noun for a herd (or would it be flock given the wings??) of Pegasus would be a Peggy Mitchell.

I’ll get my coat….

Presumably giraffes, horses, donkeys all speak the same language? Obviously giraffes will have the poshest accent, looking down their noses at the others.

Gérard

Funnily enough, years ago I was goggling pet meerkats, as the insurance adverts were relatively new and people were wondering about getting pet meerkats. (I didn't want one, just idly wondering) Anyway, there was a link on the page about how to import a giraffe, so I had a lovely evening seeing how to get a giraffe, what licences you needed, council inspections etc. Long story short, you needed a wild/ dangerous animal licence and a suitable area to keep it, including an outbuilding so it could go into shelter if cold or wet I assume. You'd have to get a bloody tall shed, and a big field for it to live in. Idly googling further, the price of a giraffe then was about £250,000, no idea how much now, and I can't remember if it was from a UK giraffe seller or imported from overseas.
A further pop up came up "want to buy a zebra?" but when I clicked on that it said the link had expired.

I don't drink! Just imagine if I did!!!

I’m team on the head, like a head collar or bridle on a horse.

I re

If you had to save a drowning giraffe do we think its neck would be sticking up vertically, enabling one to throw a rubber ring over its head so it then slid all the way down like a buoyancy aid - or kind of floating straight out on the water in front of it like one of those long booms to collect discarded plastic rubbish?

Another aimless thought that has come into my head while pondering giraffe-o-trivia. Can giraffes even swim?

This! A giraffe is more like a pet horse than a pet dog. Another vote for riding it rather than leading it!

i think a harness would be safer - and more comfortable for the giraffes.
they're herd animals, so you should probably have more than one.

@friskybivalves
Giraffes have long been known as one of the mammals in the world that are not able to swim. Scientists believed that the long neck of the giraffe and the long legs would not provide enough energy to support its neck while in water. However, in 2010, this fact was disapproved when scientists used complex digital models to prove that just like other mammals, giraffes too can float in water. In the study published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology, it was found that giraffes could supposedly swim. However, it would require the giraffe to crank its neck in an awkward backward position, and also slant the legs backward.

Just Googled it, they can technically swim but they aren't very good, due to limb weight and body shape type of thing, so if given the choice they don't. Every day's a school day!

Once when we went to Dalton Zoo, the giraffes were conspicuous by their absence.

The keepers explained that they had just in the last few days has some new giraffe arrivals which they weren't yet letting out into the giraffe field. And so the rest of the incumbent giraffes decided they weren't going to come out either