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| Zebras graze on the Serengeti Plain because they have no opposable thumbs. Photo by Stephen M. Wheeler |
Opposable Thumb, Meet Prehensile Tongue!
I’ve long had the opinion that man sits atop the mammalian throne because of the opposable thumb. While scientists might point to man’s ability to create and use tools, I defer to a much more practical example: the old Taco Bell commercial where man and his opposable thumb can snack at will while our animals friends get no nachos.
But on a recent trip to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, my Darwinian superiority complex was dealt a literal lashing: the prehensile tongue! What is it, you ask? Prehensile means finger-like, with the ability to grasp and hold. And for those animals that through evolution have developed a prehensile appendage—such as the giraffe and its talented taste buddy—selecting a leaf of romaine to nibble at is as easy as, well, eating nachos (but much healthier!).
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Vets have approved feeding lettuce to giraffes. (They keep the nachos for themselves.) |
Feeding giraffes is just one of the thrills of Busch Gardens’ Serengeti Safari. An open-air truck tour lasting about 30-35 minutes, the Serengeti Safari is an invitation to up close and personal animal encounters. Traversing both halves of Busch’s 65-acre Serengeti Plain, the guided tour drives right up to the white rhinos (which aren’t exactly white) but steers clear of the more territorial black rhino (which isn’t exactly black). And you’ll see two different breeds of zebra (all black and white, but no two exact). There are great photo opportunities of bongo, eland, impala, wildebeest, ostrich and more, including the critically endangered addax.
Now it’s not sticking my neck out to say that giraffes can do some interesting things with their 16-inch-plus tongues. Later, I would meet a follicly challenged park guest who gushed, “The giraffes kept licking my bald head, and people kept taking pictures!”
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| How do you stop this white rhino from charging? Take away its credit cards! Photo by Stephen M. Wheeler |
I, too, had felt the love. While feeding lettuce to Dolly, her long, black tongue caressed the back of my hand, leaving a deposit of sticky slime. When I told the story to one of the Serengeti Safari attendants, she laughed.
“It’s snot,” she said. “Giraffes pick their noses with their tongues.”
Well I’ve heard of thumbing one’s nose, but this is getting ridiculous.