Giraffe gets duck training

 

02 October 2012 - 07:28
By Ananova

Zoo keepers in China trained a giraffe to duck so they could move the animal under low bridges to her new home.

Mengmeng the giraffe was being moved to her wildlife park's new grounds - but the route took her under more than 20 low bridges, electricity pylons and motorway signs.

Keepers in Linyi, Shandong province, eastern China, took seven hours to travel the few miles.

Trainers had spent months teaching 15-year-old Mengmeng to duck when she saw low obstacles in a specially built pen at her old zoo.

Startled drivers on the route could see Mengmeng peeking out over the top of her trailer and dipping down every time a bridge or a pylon came up.

"There was no way to get to the new zoo without getting under low slung obstacles so we taught Mengmeng how to duck.

"And that's pretty hard when your neck is that long," explained keeper Shing Hu.