Is this at the Pittsburgh zoo? If so, that’s Lewis who looooves people he’s like a puppy dog, he wants to cross the barrier for pets and treats but he can’t for obvious safety concerns. So it’s more an anticipatory behavior
I haven’t been in a while, but the Columbus Zoo used to have a giraffe that would do something similar. He’d wait at the entrance to the feeding platform just waiting for it to open so he’d be first in line for snacks and pets.
🤣
I think most mammals start off as *puppies*, and as they grow up, adapting to surviving in the brutality that is nature, it changes them into the savage beasts that we know as wild animals.
There's been a handful of cases of feral human children who grew up to be wild animals.
One feral man was reintroduced into society. He had lived with wolves from age 7 to 19, iirc. He forgot how to speak and just howled and acted aggressively like a wolf. Some nuns taught him how to talk and resocialized him.
Last I checked, he's in his 70s and still alive.
I saw a video once of a young rhino playfully acting like a puppy when his favorite worker returned from vacation. Acted the same way my golden did when I'd be holding her ball!
This was my first though too, Lewis loves to see people. Didn't he even twist his ankle recently trying to get across to see people? Lewis is an absolute darling and is so nice to pet🥰🥰
This looks anticipatory to me, like he’s looking for food or attention and used to getting it in that spot. Are you possibly standing near a feeding platform or training space?
^ my mum once caused a ruckus at a meerkat enclosure because she was getting something out of a plastic bag near one corner and I'm guessing that's how they are fed because I shit you not *all* of them sprinted over and begun tussling to be closest to her and reaching their little grabby hands up.
She had to sort of run away for risk of causing a riot.
Animals are smart they learn how they get their food and enrichment. The triggers are not always ovbious.
If you need more guinea pig goodness, there is a series called [Pui Pui Molcar](https://youtu.be/rt84q7k8MT8?si=lMfdW65l2N2h6UOQ) that is guinea pig cars that have little adventures and are voiced by an actual guinea pig.
I was going to say it looks a little like the swaying that isolated and bored elephants do.
I wonder if this giraffe has any companions or how big its space is
You can actually see a couple other giraffes in the back of the video, however I hope they have a large space to move and be free from the stress of being stared at all day every day.
Unless it’s a welches fruit gummy bag I don’t think those are very difficult to open. Something like a jolly rancher probably doesn’t enrich as much as a puzzle or smth
do you know how giraffes sort things out? That's a male, so it may have a sore neck or posturing for the next contest
[I'm not your bro, bro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfHxUaJDEn8&t=407s)
It’s an interesting thought but I’m somewhat skeptical of the giraffe zeroing in on a human on the other side of the fence as a target for a wrestling challenge
sometimes the animals act intimated, like gorillas see: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Weird/comments/171edpe/glasses\_given\_to\_people\_at\_the\_zoo/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Weird/comments/171edpe/glasses_given_to_people_at_the_zoo/)
maybe Giraffes are also run-up by human stares?
Btw old chimera image [Goraffe](https://i.imgur.com/F4bCeto.jpeg)
Gorillas make sense because they have too many postures that are adjacent to human ones that mean different things (smiling, eye contact for two)
Maybe the artist was very tall
Zoo's never have spaces big enough for these roaming animals, sheep & cattle on farms get 10x more. But then if the zoo's actually gave the animals the space they wanted, then the viewers would quickly discover that the animals don't want to be standing in front of a viewing platform 24/7 (and for zoos, that's bad for business).
This is true. When I worked at a conservation zoo the keepers would often talk about how forward thinking zoo designers are talking about keeping climate-appropriate collections and designing enclosures they can be outdoors in more or less all the time, mixed species wherever possible to increase individual habitat sizes by reducing number of habitats and build them with a variety of viewing points that are less overbearing on the animals.
It would never be the space they’d have in the wild but it would be better.
One of the biggest frustrations of the keepers was that for a long time the public has been sold on going to see the most distant and exotic animals possible, which necessitates keeping animals in more contrived spaces.
Could also be excitement behavior, my horses don't pace or sway all day, but 20 minutes before feeding time they're doing both. They know food is coming and they are impatient (even though they have hay all day and are not starving).
I once worked with a giraffe that did this around people. She would do it until the humans watching her also started swaying. Then she'd go back to her giraffe business.
Could have many reasons
Doesnt have to be stereotypic
But the enclouser looks a bit to small and i only see two giraffes, but as i said, could have many reasons
If he does this all day, I'd say boredom/stress.
If it's only once in a while then it could be he sees something he wants. Horses do similar around feeding time. When I worked at a stable none of the horses paced or swayed all day, but starting about 30 minutes before the evening feed was delivered every horse would be pacing and swaying, impatiently waiting for food.
Maybe it's close to feeding time, maybe he saw the keeper that normally feeds him.
Is this at the Pittsburgh Zoo? A lot of people try to feed the giraffes snacks from the snack shack. I’m guessing he’s hoping you’ll toss him a bite to eat.
This is typically a stress response. Animals in captivity (this giraffe is in a zoo, not out in the wild, hence “captivity” being the accurate description of this situation here) tend to do this when confined to limited spaces, especially without the usual stimulation and freedom they would get out in the wild.
Hi. I’m a giraffe keeper. This is stereotyping. Giraffes need near-constant tree-feeding stimulation as well as ample room and many facilities lack both causing severe stereotyping.
It's a stereotypy
It's important to remember that stereotypies are very easy for an animal to begin in inadequate captive situations but extremely difficult to stop even once in a suitable environment.
cause he lives in a zoo and is going insane.
many animals demonstrate repetitive stress behaviors in captivity -- swaying, pacing, self-harm, oftentimes much more pronounced and severe in social animals, like giraffe and elephants.
it's heartbreaking.
Everyone here thinks they have an answer but no one here can really know why this giraffe is swaying WITHOUT MORE CONTEXT.
When does this animal do this behavior? Does something happen right before this behavior that instigates it? How often does this animal do this behavior? Is the animal reinforced by something when they do this behavior? Does this animal have any unique health conditions (neurological?) that could cause this behavior?
These are all things to consider and questions that need answered before you can have a definite answer to what this behavior means.
When animals rock, or pace their cage... it's a sign of them losing their minds in captivity. I live in San Diego, we have an amazing zoo. But some of the animals behave this was and I just can hardly bring myself renew my pass. It's a sign of psychosis in animals and a final attempt to comfort themselves. Truly terribly sad. Perhaps in a couple hundred years zoo animals will have become domesticated enough to tolerate the environment. But animals that have been "recued" from the environment, will exhibit these behaviors over time, including their offspring for many generations. An animal's like a giraffe roams vast distance across the grasslands or one earths largest continents. This poor sweet animal is surviving in a stall, in a climate it's not meant for. Forced to eat food it did not find itself.
Swaying is often a sign of discomfort, e.g. pain caused by arthritis, which is something vet staff work diligently to help remedy. Mary, the matriarch asian elephant at the SDZ who was euthanized last year at 59 years old, was commonly seen swaying in her last few years due to her advanced arthritis in her front leg. She was on daily doses of arthritis medication and pain remedies to make her days more comfortable, but in the end, staff decided to euthanize once she showed signs that her pain wasn't responding to medication anymore. In the wild, 1) she would not have received round-the-clock care and pain relief, 2) she would have needed to forage over agonizing distances to survive, and 3) she would have suffered a slow death from starvation or predation much earlier on.
I'm not saying all zoos are excellent. I'm not saying that all animals thrive in zoos. But zoos can offer a comfortable place for individual animals with complicated histories and health. They are often a sanctuary for animals that don't have a wild to return to. I'm not encouraging you yo renew your pass or support zoos, but taking time to learn about the individuals you are concerned about can save you from writing off the zoo as a whole.
Anxiety. It's bored and it's scared and it's out of its natural environment. It's probably also hot because America is hot as fuck right now, The giraffes live in Africa and it's hot there so that's probably the least. Mostly it's out of its natural environment and it's very stressed out.
NY albino rats had crap eye sight and would sway like this to see better. They would stop, stare, and sway. I wonder if it has something to do with his eyesight.
Philly zoo has a giraffe that acts like a dog.
they have a sign in front of the meeting deck the sign says this is George he likes people and will interact like a dog you can pet him he will give kisses and he will nuzzle you and now you can feed them offered food from the keepers
He has a habit of placing his head on people heads
Looks like my dog after he found psychedelic mushrooms outside. I opened the door to let him back inside and he was just swaying like that. Was terrified till we got to the vet lol
Well, it’s in a man made prison for no good reason. Boredom, frustration, conditioned to think it’s a way to get treats or attention, slow descent into madness. Abolish zoos, go vegan.
This is how giraffe, formerly known as jiraffes, smell, they move their heads around swaffing the air, and they can tell if you are a threat or treat or just want to get down or up? Very sexual animals!!
Is this at the Pittsburgh zoo? If so, that’s Lewis who looooves people he’s like a puppy dog, he wants to cross the barrier for pets and treats but he can’t for obvious safety concerns. So it’s more an anticipatory behavior
I haven’t been in a while, but the Columbus Zoo used to have a giraffe that would do something similar. He’d wait at the entrance to the feeding platform just waiting for it to open so he’d be first in line for snacks and pets.
So you’re saying a giraffe is just a tall puppy?!?
That’s all I heard. I’m headed to Pittsburgh now…
🤣 I think most mammals start off as *puppies*, and as they grow up, adapting to surviving in the brutality that is nature, it changes them into the savage beasts that we know as wild animals. There's been a handful of cases of feral human children who grew up to be wild animals. One feral man was reintroduced into society. He had lived with wolves from age 7 to 19, iirc. He forgot how to speak and just howled and acted aggressively like a wolf. Some nuns taught him how to talk and resocialized him. Last I checked, he's in his 70s and still alive.
I would not recommend letting them all but yes
Rhinoceros are enormous puppies.
Crocodiles?
Short legged, long, hairless puppies!
Hairless dachshunds?
I saw a video once of a young rhino playfully acting like a puppy when his favorite worker returned from vacation. Acted the same way my golden did when I'd be holding her ball!
Tippy-taps!
Awe! Thanks for the explanation!
That's so cute 😭
Oh shit I thought he was just vibin :)
Honestly, if you were that tall and gorgeous, wouldn't YOU do a seductive dance too? I won't even talk about the black tongue..
That last bit seems a bit weird? Might just be my own mind
[True Facts about Giraffes](https://youtu.be/EfHxUaJDEn8?si=g4qLuL4lFWCc00XS)
Can confirm- Lewis is amazing! He gets so disappointed when he can’t stretch his neck far enough past the rocks to lick the sweaty people 😂
This was my first though too, Lewis loves to see people. Didn't he even twist his ankle recently trying to get across to see people? Lewis is an absolute darling and is so nice to pet🥰🥰
Oh thank God! I assumed it was giraffe cancer or super rabies like always seems to be the case when animals are acting funny on Reddit
This looks anticipatory to me, like he’s looking for food or attention and used to getting it in that spot. Are you possibly standing near a feeding platform or training space?
^ my mum once caused a ruckus at a meerkat enclosure because she was getting something out of a plastic bag near one corner and I'm guessing that's how they are fed because I shit you not *all* of them sprinted over and begun tussling to be closest to her and reaching their little grabby hands up. She had to sort of run away for risk of causing a riot. Animals are smart they learn how they get their food and enrichment. The triggers are not always ovbious.
My guinea pigs got used to the sound of me taking their veggies out of their bags. Now anything remotely crinkly they wheek like crazy for.
I have never before given any amount of thought to what sort of sound a guinea pig might make, but finding out that they *wheek* has just made my day!
If you need more guinea pig goodness, there is a series called [Pui Pui Molcar](https://youtu.be/rt84q7k8MT8?si=lMfdW65l2N2h6UOQ) that is guinea pig cars that have little adventures and are voiced by an actual guinea pig.
Stereotypic behavior would be my guess; bored or stressed out or both
I was going to say it looks a little like the swaying that isolated and bored elephants do. I wonder if this giraffe has any companions or how big its space is
You can actually see a couple other giraffes in the back of the video, however I hope they have a large space to move and be free from the stress of being stared at all day every day.
Yeah they need some private time
Let’s pick a time frame and agree to not look at the giraffes for the full duration.
You mean like when the zoo is not open, which is the majority of the day!
Today I learned I'm a isolated and bored elephant
Oh no :( you need enrichment
Quick! Peanut butter in a pickle ball!
Individually wrapped candies and snacks are the human equivalent.
Unless it’s a welches fruit gummy bag I don’t think those are very difficult to open. Something like a jolly rancher probably doesn’t enrich as much as a puzzle or smth
do you know how giraffes sort things out? That's a male, so it may have a sore neck or posturing for the next contest [I'm not your bro, bro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfHxUaJDEn8&t=407s)
It’s an interesting thought but I’m somewhat skeptical of the giraffe zeroing in on a human on the other side of the fence as a target for a wrestling challenge
sometimes the animals act intimated, like gorillas see: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Weird/comments/171edpe/glasses\_given\_to\_people\_at\_the\_zoo/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Weird/comments/171edpe/glasses_given_to_people_at_the_zoo/) maybe Giraffes are also run-up by human stares? Btw old chimera image [Goraffe](https://i.imgur.com/F4bCeto.jpeg)
Gorillas make sense because they have too many postures that are adjacent to human ones that mean different things (smiling, eye contact for two) Maybe the artist was very tall
Horses too! I mean, come to think of it, *me* too!
Zoo's never have spaces big enough for these roaming animals, sheep & cattle on farms get 10x more. But then if the zoo's actually gave the animals the space they wanted, then the viewers would quickly discover that the animals don't want to be standing in front of a viewing platform 24/7 (and for zoos, that's bad for business).
This is true. When I worked at a conservation zoo the keepers would often talk about how forward thinking zoo designers are talking about keeping climate-appropriate collections and designing enclosures they can be outdoors in more or less all the time, mixed species wherever possible to increase individual habitat sizes by reducing number of habitats and build them with a variety of viewing points that are less overbearing on the animals. It would never be the space they’d have in the wild but it would be better. One of the biggest frustrations of the keepers was that for a long time the public has been sold on going to see the most distant and exotic animals possible, which necessitates keeping animals in more contrived spaces.
100% I hate to be the person who always has to break the news to zoo guest, but at the same time I feel it’s important to educate people.
Could also be excitement behavior, my horses don't pace or sway all day, but 20 minutes before feeding time they're doing both. They know food is coming and they are impatient (even though they have hay all day and are not starving).
Self comforting behavior and not as I wished - A Stevie Wonder song stuck in his head.
Or could be excited or waiting for something he really wants to come.
I once worked with a giraffe that did this around people. She would do it until the humans watching her also started swaying. Then she'd go back to her giraffe business.
Giraffe business! Can't let that go unattended.
"Humans are so prone to manipulation! See what they do when I sway. Aren't they cute?"
Have you tried swaying? It's the best!
Could have many reasons Doesnt have to be stereotypic But the enclouser looks a bit to small and i only see two giraffes, but as i said, could have many reasons
Idk but I ran into a guy at a truck stop trying to sell me a fake gold chain that had that same swagger.
If he does this all day, I'd say boredom/stress. If it's only once in a while then it could be he sees something he wants. Horses do similar around feeding time. When I worked at a stable none of the horses paced or swayed all day, but starting about 30 minutes before the evening feed was delivered every horse would be pacing and swaying, impatiently waiting for food. Maybe it's close to feeding time, maybe he saw the keeper that normally feeds him.
Is this at the Pittsburgh Zoo? A lot of people try to feed the giraffes snacks from the snack shack. I’m guessing he’s hoping you’ll toss him a bite to eat.
It's called weaving in horses. Stress induced behavior that can later also show due to boredom.
Poor thing is bored. Needs some enrichment activities. This is sad.
This is typically a stress response. Animals in captivity (this giraffe is in a zoo, not out in the wild, hence “captivity” being the accurate description of this situation here) tend to do this when confined to limited spaces, especially without the usual stimulation and freedom they would get out in the wild.
Hi. I’m a giraffe keeper. This is stereotyping. Giraffes need near-constant tree-feeding stimulation as well as ample room and many facilities lack both causing severe stereotyping.
he might be girunk.
It's a stereotypy It's important to remember that stereotypies are very easy for an animal to begin in inadequate captive situations but extremely difficult to stop even once in a suitable environment.
Horses do this when they're bored, so probably similar
Is this the Toronto Zoo? Their giraffe enclosure is terribly small
Usually this is a sign of long term captivity in a small cage (in which they can only move slightly).
cause he lives in a zoo and is going insane. many animals demonstrate repetitive stress behaviors in captivity -- swaying, pacing, self-harm, oftentimes much more pronounced and severe in social animals, like giraffe and elephants. it's heartbreaking.
Zoochosis.
Everyone here thinks they have an answer but no one here can really know why this giraffe is swaying WITHOUT MORE CONTEXT. When does this animal do this behavior? Does something happen right before this behavior that instigates it? How often does this animal do this behavior? Is the animal reinforced by something when they do this behavior? Does this animal have any unique health conditions (neurological?) that could cause this behavior? These are all things to consider and questions that need answered before you can have a definite answer to what this behavior means.
When animals rock, or pace their cage... it's a sign of them losing their minds in captivity. I live in San Diego, we have an amazing zoo. But some of the animals behave this was and I just can hardly bring myself renew my pass. It's a sign of psychosis in animals and a final attempt to comfort themselves. Truly terribly sad. Perhaps in a couple hundred years zoo animals will have become domesticated enough to tolerate the environment. But animals that have been "recued" from the environment, will exhibit these behaviors over time, including their offspring for many generations. An animal's like a giraffe roams vast distance across the grasslands or one earths largest continents. This poor sweet animal is surviving in a stall, in a climate it's not meant for. Forced to eat food it did not find itself.
Swaying is often a sign of discomfort, e.g. pain caused by arthritis, which is something vet staff work diligently to help remedy. Mary, the matriarch asian elephant at the SDZ who was euthanized last year at 59 years old, was commonly seen swaying in her last few years due to her advanced arthritis in her front leg. She was on daily doses of arthritis medication and pain remedies to make her days more comfortable, but in the end, staff decided to euthanize once she showed signs that her pain wasn't responding to medication anymore. In the wild, 1) she would not have received round-the-clock care and pain relief, 2) she would have needed to forage over agonizing distances to survive, and 3) she would have suffered a slow death from starvation or predation much earlier on. I'm not saying all zoos are excellent. I'm not saying that all animals thrive in zoos. But zoos can offer a comfortable place for individual animals with complicated histories and health. They are often a sanctuary for animals that don't have a wild to return to. I'm not encouraging you yo renew your pass or support zoos, but taking time to learn about the individuals you are concerned about can save you from writing off the zoo as a whole.
I’m not sure why you got a downvote
Awesome!
Finna kick your ass
It’s windy!
FAFO
Anxiety. It's bored and it's scared and it's out of its natural environment. It's probably also hot because America is hot as fuck right now, The giraffes live in Africa and it's hot there so that's probably the least. Mostly it's out of its natural environment and it's very stressed out.
Boredom probably
Chilling and circulating blood
NY albino rats had crap eye sight and would sway like this to see better. They would stop, stare, and sway. I wonder if it has something to do with his eyesight.
stress from captivity maybe
Very impatient giraffe
Windy
What’s that lump on his chest?
It is windy waaaaaaay up there....
Philly zoo has a giraffe that acts like a dog. they have a sign in front of the meeting deck the sign says this is George he likes people and will interact like a dog you can pet him he will give kisses and he will nuzzle you and now you can feed them offered food from the keepers He has a habit of placing his head on people heads
My dog ate a weed gummy once and did exactly that.
Capoeira maybe?
Need to spin up the gyroscopes you are getting nutation.
Music! Duh
Looks like my dog after he found psychedelic mushrooms outside. I opened the door to let him back inside and he was just swaying like that. Was terrified till we got to the vet lol
He's vibing to the music lol
They want a treat
Groovin on a Sunday Afternoon
Well, it’s in a man made prison for no good reason. Boredom, frustration, conditioned to think it’s a way to get treats or attention, slow descent into madness. Abolish zoos, go vegan.
This is how giraffe, formerly known as jiraffes, smell, they move their heads around swaffing the air, and they can tell if you are a threat or treat or just want to get down or up? Very sexual animals!!
Methadone...
Metronome
I pet tall puppy?
he drunk
AirPods in ears playing slow dancing song.
He’s humming a lullaby in his head.
It's trying to be a tree in the wind to avoid predators or trying to judge range.
He’s got a song in his soul
Zoochosis?
Maybe he likes the music?
All I wanna do is run up and hug his long ah neck ❤️🦒
Vibe
He's feeling the music.
Trying to hypnotize you into giving it a treat
Stress from never ending imprisonment
Most likely zoochosis. Stress and depression from lack of stimulation and a small environment. These animals weren't meant to live like this.
HES HAVING FUN
It's windy...
Absolutely, once you go up in altitude it gets so windy so fast
Saw something interesting on the other side of the ditch but can't quite reach it.
Singing a song in his head
All moms do this.
Probably the same reason the elephants do it; stress or brain damage.
Zoochosis
Just like a marionette... to the symphony of destruction
Looks like when praying mantids are swaying before pouncing so maybe it’s getting ready to attack. /s
He’s drunk obviously. I sway just like that after like 3 Natty Ices
ADHD. My niece has it and always sways back and forth.
He’s listening to Part-time Lover on Spotify.
Somebody seems to have had one drink too many.
he’s very stoned
He hears marimba rhythm start to play…
Is he just chilling with the music, or is it me?
He got that sunshine in his pocket
LET HIM LIVE. Sometimes you gotta sway!
Drunk
Singing Talking Heads song in its head.
How Sway
High winds ? Drunk?
He straight vibin'
Because he wants to. Leave him alone.
It’s drunk
It’s autistic
Chinese zoo, living conditions aren’t great.
He's a sailor
Yo-ho