The Giggly Giraffe Read online

  The baby giraffe managed a few wobbly steps, but he was so unsteady that his legs seemed to take him backwards instead of forwards! Everyone laughed – which made Jamie giggle too…

  Zoe Parker ran down the red-brick path of the Rescue Zoo with a huge grin on her face. “Mum!” she shouted, waving her arms. “Mum, guess what?”

  Lucy Parker popped her head round the door of the zoo hospital, where she was working that morning. “I’m here, Zoe! What’s happened?” she asked.

  “It’s Jewel!” Zoe cried.

  “Her baby is on the way!”

  “That’s great news,” Lucy smiled. “Wait there, Zoe – I’ll be out in just a minute.”

  Zoe bounced up and down on the path outside the zoo hospital as her mum quickly packed all the things she would need in case she had to help deliver the new baby – a giraffe!

  Zoe wasn’t just a visitor to the zoo. She actually lived there! Her Great-Uncle Horace had started the zoo a long time ago as a home for any animals that were lost, poorly or in danger. Zoe’s mum was the zoo vet, and she and Zoe lived in a cosy little cottage at the edge of the zoo.

  Zoe loved her amazing home, and her all-time favourite thing about living in a zoo was when a new animal arrived.

  Jewel the giraffe was expecting her first baby, and Zoe had been looking forward to the little calf arriving for such a long time. The other zoo animals were really excited too!

  “I’m ready, let’s go,” said Lucy, stepping outside and swinging a big bag full of special equipment and medicine on to her shoulder.

  Together they raced down the path, past the wolves and the polar bears. As they passed the pot-bellied pigs, one of them pushed his snout through a gap in the fence and gave a grunt. “Yes, the baby giraffe is coming!” whispered Zoe, dropping back a little so that her mum wouldn’t hear her. “I’ll let you know as soon as there’s any news, Polly!”

  Living in the Rescue Zoo wasn’t the only special thing about Zoe. She had a very unusual gift – she could talk to animals! It made growing up in a zoo even more fun – although Zoe couldn’t let anyone else know her secret. Not even her mum or Great-Uncle Horace knew!

  Zoe caught up with her mum again, and when they reached the giraffe enclosure, a tiny furry creature was perched on the gate waiting for them. As soon as he saw Zoe, his fluffy ears pricked up excitedly.

  “Hello, Meep,” Zoe said as he jumped from the gate on to her shoulder.

  Meep was a grey mouse lemur with big golden eyes and a long, curling tail. Of all the animals in the zoo, he was Zoe’s most special friend. “I’ve been keeping an eye on things, Zoe,” he chattered importantly. “The baby giraffe hasn’t been born yet. But Theo, the giraffe keeper, is here. And someone else has just arrived too,” he added happily.

  “Someone else? Who do you mean?” asked Zoe, puzzled. “Another zoo keeper?”

  Meep shook his head. “Go and look, Zoe,” he squeaked.

  Zoe followed her mum through the gate and into the giraffe enclosure. She always thought it was one of the nicest parts of the zoo, designed to look just like the African savannah, where giraffes in the wild would live. There were juicy acacia trees dotted around, a gurgling stream winding its way through the middle of the enclosure, and a large watering hole where the giraffes could have a drink and cool down in the summer.

  Theo, the Rescue Zoo giraffe keeper, was standing on the other side of the enclosure from Jewel, whose belly was looking very big and round because of the baby inside it. Next to Theo was a man with wild white hair and twinkling brown eyes, wearing dusty safari clothes. On his shoulder perched a beautiful deep-blue bird with a curved black and yellow beak.

  “Great-Uncle Horace!” gasped Zoe, rushing over to hug him. “I thought you were in Africa.”

  Great-Uncle Horace was a famous explorer and animal expert, and he spent most of his time travelling around the world meeting different animals. The bird on his shoulder was Kiki, his hyacinth macaw, who went everywhere with him.

  “I was!” laughed Great-Uncle Horace. “In fact, I was visiting a herd of wild giraffes in a very hot place called Tanzania. But I knew that our own baby giraffe would be arriving soon, so I decided to fly back to the zoo and surprise you all. It seems like I’ve got here just in time!”

  Jewel began pacing about in circles on her slender legs.

  “This is what happens when the baby is almost here!” whispered Zoe to Meep, who nodded. Zoe had been reading all about baby giraffes!

  She and Meep stood back with Great-Uncle Horace, Lucy and Theo as they watched Jewel’s baby being born. First Zoe could see four hooves, then four spindly legs. Finally the calf dropped to the ground, shook its head and looked around.

  “Oh, wow, what a gorgeous baby,” Zoe sighed, hugging Meep happily. She watched as her mum went over to the calf and gently checked it. “It’s a boy!” Lucy called to everyone.

  “Yay! A boy like me,” chirped Meep, looking very pleased.

  Zoe giggled. “Can we come over and have a look?” she called to her mum.

  “Of course! He’s beautiful,” Lucy replied with a smile.

  Feeling very excited, Zoe approached the new baby, who gazed at her curiously with his big black eyes. Even though he was much smaller than his mum, the giraffe’s skinny legs with their knobbly knees were already much longer than Zoe’s.

  The little giraffe had large, fluffy ears, and two funny, furry stumps on the top of his head, called ossicones. His body was covered with a patchwork of golden-brown splodges of different sizes and shapes. Zoe knew that every giraffe’s coat patterns were different, a bit like the way every human had their own unique set of fingerprints.

  “What shall we call him?” asked Theo.

  “Zoe, you’re usually very good at picking names,” said Great-Uncle Horace. “Why don’t you think of something?”

  Zoe did her best not to giggle. Her mum and Great-Uncle Horace thought she was good at picking names for new animals, but it wasn’t really true. She usually asked the animal their name, and then pretended she’d come up with it herself! She couldn’t tell her mum and Great-Uncle Horace that, of course. This time she really would get to pick the new giraffe’s name, because this baby was too young to have a name yet.

  “How about … Jamie?” she suggested.

  The baby giraffe’s eyes lit up, and Zoe could tell he liked it.

  “Perfect!” said Lucy. “Jamie it is. Look – he’s already trying to walk!”

  The little calf put his hooves flat on the ground and pushed himself up.

  Now that he was standing, Zoe could see how tall he was already – even taller than Great-Uncle Horace! His legs wobbled back and forth underneath him, and Zoe was sure he would fall straight over.

  “He’s determined!” chuckled Great-Uncle Horace. “And baby giraffes need to be. After all, if this baby had been born in the wild, it would be very important for him to learn to walk straight away – because of all the wild animals that might attack him, like lions, hyenas and leopards. That’s why baby giraffes start walking within just an hour of them being born – so they can escape from any predators. It’s to help them survive. It’s very clever.”

  “Luckily, there’s no danger of this baby meeting any of our lions, hyenas or leopards,” whispered Zoe to Meep, thinking of the enclosures on the other side of the Rescue Zoo where those animals lived.

  As Jamie lifted one hoof to take a shaky step, everyone cheered and clapped.

  “Well done, Jamie! That’s brilliant!” cried Zoe.

  The baby giraffe managed another few wobbly steps, but he was so unsteady that his legs seemed to take him backwards instead of forwards. Everyone laughed as he stumbled around – which made Jamie laugh too. Zoe grinned as the little
calf giggled and squealed, wobbling around on his brand-new legs.

  “He’s so funny!” chattered Meep, jumping down from Zoe’s shoulder and copying the baby. “It’s like his legs are made of jelly!”

  As Meep pretended to wobble around, the giraffe giggled even harder. Zoe could already tell that the zoo’s newest arrival had a good sense of humour.

  “Excuse me, what is going on here?” barked a cross voice from behind Zoe. “I’m trying to do some important work in my office, but all I can hear is noise.”

  Zoe whirled around to see the zoo’s manager, Mr Pinch, marching into the enclosure. He looked really grumpy … but then Mr Pinch always looked really grumpy!

  “Ah, Mr Pinch, I’m so sorry you were disturbed,” said Great-Uncle Horace. “But it’s for a very good reason. You see, we are just celebrating the safe arrival of the Rescue Zoo’s newest resident.”

  Mr Pinch wrinkled up his nose as he watched the baby giraffe stumble around. “He’s not very good at walking, is he?” he said disapprovingly.

  “He’s only just been born!” Zoe exclaimed indignantly. Mr Pinch was always complaining about the animals, usually about how messy they were!

  “Well, anyway, now that I’ve found you all, I have some very exciting news to share,” announced Mr Pinch, completely ignoring Zoe and the giraffe. “I have decided to enter the Rescue Zoo into a very important competition – the Best Zoo Competition. If we win we’ll be given the Best Zoo Award. It’s a wonderful award – all shiny and gold. It would look perfect in my office.”

  “The Best Zoo Award. That sounds very interesting, Mr Pinch!” replied Great-Uncle Horace. “Please tell us more.”

  “A team of judges will visit the zoo for an inspection,” Mr Pinch told him. “They’ll look at our enclosures and our animals, and decide whether they think we deserve the prize. We’ll be competing against the two other zoos in the region.” He put his hands on his hips and looked very determined. “But I’m going to make sure that the Rescue Zoo wins. I don’t care what it takes. I want that prize!”

  Zoe looked at Meep and smiled. It wasn’t often that she agreed with Mr Pinch, but this time she did. It would be great if the Rescue Zoo won the Best Zoo Award!

  Early the next morning, Zoe’s eyes flew open as a loud trumpeting noise burst through her bedroom window.

  “What’s going on?” she asked sleepily, sitting up and glancing at the clock on her bedroom wall. “It’s only six o’clock – and today’s Sunday. Normally the elephants don’t wake us up for at least another hour.”

  At the foot of her bed, Meep was rubbing his eyes and yawning. “I was having a lovely dream about eating a big, delicious banana,” he said, patting his tummy. “It was such a good dream, Zoe. I wish I hadn’t woken up!”

  Zoe giggled and scooped her little friend up for a cuddle. Meep was always hungry, and loved bananas most of all. “Never mind,” she said. “Now that we’re awake we can go and have breakfast – and you really can have a banana, just like in your dream. Then let’s go and find out why the elephants are making such a racket.”

  After quickly getting dressed, Zoe and Meep ran downstairs. As Zoe and Meep ate their breakfast, they could hear the noisy trumpeting sound from outside again. Meep’s little ears pricked up every time the sound floated through the window. Zoe giggled as he looked in confusion at his banana, then at the front door of the cottage, then back to his banana again. “Meep, what are you doing?” she asked, leaning over to stroke Meep’s soft fur.

  “I’m trying to decide what I want most,” explained Meep. “To finish my banana, or to find out what’s going on outside.”

  “Well, you’ve only got three bites left,” Zoe told him, laughing. “Finish up quickly and then let’s go.”

  Meep stuffed the last three bits of banana in his mouth, making his cheeks puff up like a hamster’s, while Zoe washed up her cereal bowl. Then Meep jumped on Zoe’s shoulder and they headed outside. They followed the trumpeting sound all the way to the elephant enclosure, and peered inside to see what was going on.

  All the elephants were crowded at one side of their enclosure, waving their trunks in the air. They were looking through the fence into the enclosure next to theirs – which belonged to the giraffes. On the other side of the fence, Jamie the baby giraffe was waving his long slender neck from side to side, and giggling. The elephants trumpeted noisily again, and Zoe called out to one of them – a friendly, gentle male with huge tusks.

  “Edgar, what’s going on?” she asked, waving him over.

  Edgar plodded over to the fence and said hello to Zoe by patting her head with the tip of his trunk. Then he gave a low rumble and used his trunk to point at Jamie. Zoe started chuckling.

  “Now I understand, Meep! The elephants are laughing – at Jamie!” she said. “The funny giraffe is pretending to be an elephant, like them. Look at how he’s waving his neck, as if it’s a trunk!”

  Meep started giggling himself as he watched Jamie having fun. “Maybe I can pretend to be an elephant too, Zoe. Watch,” he chattered, and he lifted his long curly tail high into the air and swung it from side to side. “This is my trunk!”

  Edgar let out a low rumble of laughter as the cheeky lemur pretended to be an elephant. Zoe burst out giggling too. But then a sharp voice interrupted her.

  “Honestly, I think everyone apart from me in this entire zoo has gone mad!” snapped Mr Pinch as he marched over to them. He frowned at Zoe and Meep. “Why are you encouraging the animals to be so loud and naughty? I won’t have it!”

  “They’re playing,” explained Zoe, trying her best not to lose her temper with him.

  “Playing!” Mr Pinch tutted crossly. “The animals can’t play at a time like this! We’ve got the Best Zoo Award to think of. The judges are going to arrive at the Rescue Zoo next Saturday for their inspection and everything must be perfect. The paths and flowerbeds must be neat, the enclosures must be spick and span, and the animals must all be on their very best behaviour!” He glared through the fence at the trumpeting elephants. “This sort of silliness just won’t do.”

  Zoe rolled her eyes, but Mr Pinch didn’t seem to notice. “Now, as you’re here, Zoe, I’ve got a job for you,” the grumpy zoo manager continued.

  Oh no! thought Zoe. Usually Mr Pinch gave out very boring jobs. Zoe didn’t mind working hard, because it was good practice for being a zoo keeper herself when she was grown up. But Mr Pinch’s jobs for Zoe were usually the ones that didn’t involve the animals, because he thought those should only be done by real, grown-up keepers and not little girls. He normally told her to pick up litter, weed the plants or clean the windows.

  So she couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief as Mr Pinch pointed to Jamie and said, “I need to take that giraffe over to the zoo hospital. Your mum wants to give him a check-up. Could you lead him for me, please? I don’t want him slobbering all over my nice clean uniform.”

  This was a job that Zoe didn’t mind doing at all! “OK, Mr Pinch,” she said.

  As Mr Pinch waited on the path, Zoe reached for the necklace she was wearing. At the end of the chain was a small silver charm in the shape of a paw print. Zoe held it against a small panel in the gate of the giraffe enclosure and, with a click, the gate swung open.

  “My magic necklace!” Zoe said, winking at Meep. The special charm opened every gate, fence and door in the whole zoo! Great-Uncle Horace had given it to Zoe for her birthday, when he had decided she was old enough to find her way around the zoo by herself. It was the most precious thing Zoe owned, and she wore it every day.

  The little giraffe looked curiously at Zoe as she and Meep stepped inside the enclosure.

  “Hi, Jamie,” said Zoe, smiling. “We haven’t met properly yet, because there were so many people around when you arrived yesterday. My name’s Zoe, and this is Meep. We live here at the zoo, just like you!”

  Jamie was very excited to learn that Zoe could understand animals, and came over to her to say hello properly. He
lowered his long neck so that he could nuzzle Zoe’s face with his soft, silky nose, and then did the same to Meep.

  “It’s time for you to have a check-up at the zoo hospital,” Zoe explained to him. “My mum just wants to make sure you’re happy and healthy. She’s the zoo vet, so she looks after all the animals here. The hospital’s just down the path – not very far. And you’ll be able to see a bit more of the zoo on the way.”

  Jamie bleated excitedly, and Zoe led the baby giraffe out of his enclosure, making sure she closed the gate properly behind them.

  “Come along!” Mr Pinch called bossily as he marched off ahead of them.

  But as Zoe started following him, she heard the elephants trumpeting noisily again.

  The paths were starting to fill up with zoo visitors now, who were all chatting curiously about the funny noises the elephants were making.

  “It sounds a bit like a brass band!” said one lady.

  “And now it sounds like a storm’s coming,” laughed a man, as a howl and a roar rang out.

  Zoe realised that the noises were spreading to the other animals! She heard another high-pitched howl from close by, and realised that it was Shadow the wolf pup. Then there was a huge roar from Leonard and Rory, the Rescue Zoo lions, as Zoe, Meep and Jamie passed their savannah enclosure.

  The chimpanzees began screeching as they walked past their home, and as they got closer to the bats, Zoe saw the whole colony swooping around in circles, chittering and squeaking as loudly as they could.

  And it wasn’t just the animals making all the noise any more. The zoo visitors were chuckling too, and Zoe saw lots of people holding up their phones and cameras to take pictures. Thankfully Mr Pinch had marched so far ahead he hadn’t realised what was happening.