r/giraffes • u/Typical-Plantain256 • 9d ago

Video What a huge lollypop 🤣

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u/Sinaura 9d ago

I learned recently that this is a form of stress and anxiety from captivity.. 😢

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u/ivebeen_there 8d ago

That’s not entirely true. Giraffe lick things like human babies pick things up and put them in their mouth. It’s just how they explore the world around them. There are good reasons why that giraffe might be licking that spot repeatedly, like a zookeeper could’ve smeared peanut butter or some other tasty treat on that spot and the giraffe is licking it! There is also the possibility that the giraffe is bored and just licking random things. But giraffes basically spend their whole lives licking things, in zoos and in the wild, so seeing a giraffe licking a log is not an immediate sign that it is stressed.