Tall Blondes: A Book about Giraffes

A tall blonde herself, ABC correspondent Sherr became fascinated with giraffes during a 1973 trip to Africa. Subsequent visits fueled her interest and led to this book, a felicitous blend of history, biology and anthropology that starts in prehistoric times and runs to the present. Nearly half of the book consists of giraffe-related quotations from travelers, historians, scientists, hunters and others. We learn that there are nine subspecies of giraffes (they can interbreed); that the giraffe is highly sociable; that its chief predators are lions and hyenas. Sherr describes the giraffe's remarkable physiology and its gentle nature. She tells stories of some famous giraffes, including Daisy Rothschild, a pet raised by a family in Kenya, and the giraffe kept in a Florentine zoo in the late 15th century by Lorenzo de Medici. With so much popular literature devoted to lions, elephants and apes, it's about time someone has written a modern paean to the giraffe--and such a graceful one, too. Color illustrations throughout. (Sept.)