MEET THE NEIGHBORS

Here in Palm Desert we live next door to The Living Desert, an amazing and very different sort of zoo. The animals may come from very different part of the world but they are all desert creatures. Further for the animals that need it, like Geraldine G. here, there is lots of space to roam in.

As the crow flies I think the giraffe family - mama, papa, youngster - are the closest Living Desert neighbors as their range borders the area we live in.

The giraffe is the tallest of all four legged animals. Male giraffes may reach up to 19 feet and weigh 1.5 tons.
Like most mammals, including humans, they have on seven neck vertebrae. These neck vertebrae are enormously separated by flexible joints.

Spines on their chest vertebrae project upward forming a hump on the shoulders. These bones anchor the muscles that hold the neck upright, much the same way cables hold up a construction crane.