I have been told that I know a lot of useless (or useful, depending on when you need it) information. So I would like to share some of the things I have learned so far with all of you.
1. We all know that Giraffes are cute and adorable with their long necks and markings. Did you know there are 3 types of giraffes, Rothschild, Maasai, and Reticulated? They are all native to different parts of Africa and their markings is how you tell them apart. They will crossbreed given the opportunity and those giraffes are then considered a crossbreed, not part of one of the three types.
2. The Giraffe Centre in Nairobi only houses Rothschild giraffes and are working on increasing their population in the wild. When the center was started in the 1970s, there were only about 130 Rothschild giraffes remaining. Through their conservation efforts they have increased this number significantly. At the center they house one male alpha, females, and babies. When young males reach around 2-3 years, they are transported to another reserve with other Rothschild giraffes to prevent violence between the males. Giraffes are herd animals and tend to stick together in groups.
3. Speaking of Giraffes, they often live with warthogs. The warthogs, since they are smaller and closer to the ground are able to warn the giraffes of danger nearby, but the giraffes can spot the danger far away and help fight off the danger when it’s close since they are much larger animals.
4. Did you know you probably already know some words in Swahili? Remember The Lion King, many character names have Swahili meanings.
Pumbaa = foolish, silly, careless, or absent-minded and warthogs are often called ok due to their small brains
Simba = the lion
Nala = gift, beloved, queen, or successful
Mufasa = king or brave ruler
Zazu = movement; remember this was the bird that was the advisor to the king
Rafiki = a friend; and this was the wise old monkey
5. At the Nairobi National Museum, they had examples of about every animal you can find in Kenya, if not Africa. One such example is the last male white rhinoceros, Sudan. He was born in the wild in Sudan in 1972 and at 3 years old taken to the Czech Republic where he lived until 2009. Then he was brought back to Africa, living Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya with his daughter and granddaughter (who are still living). He passed in 2018 and his remains were preserved via taxidermy in the Czech Republic and returned to Nairobi for display at the Nairobi National Museum. It is a huge deal that Sudan is no longer alive, because when the remaining females die, so does a species. We are taught to love our earth and everything in it, but we are terrible at showing that love when we allow greed and personal trophies to kill a whole species.
6. Now I’m going to make a leap to something else I learned at the Nairobi National Museum. Did you ever wonder how for millions of years people were able to live in Africa without modern malaria prevention medication and not die from malaria. It’s all in your genes. When you hear of someone having sickle cell anemia, they are generally very sickly and have inherited the sickle cell gene from both parents. But if the gene is inherited from one parent, it is a different story. The sickle cell gene causes the red blood cell to deform and become destroyed before the malaria parasite can multiply.
7. Now for the last piece of trivia. Princess Elizabeth was on a state tour of Africa and in Kenya when she received word that her father has passed away, instantly making her Queen Elizabeth II. She had to immediately return to England to assume her duties as monarch, but when the plane landed she did not have appropriate mourning attire with her and she had to remain on the plane until it was delivered and she could change into all black. This is why members of the royal family now travel with mourning attire, just in case.
-Annette
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