Photo of the Day #85: Randy Gerenuk

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If you visit zoos often enough, you'll probably eventually see at least one pair of animals mating with each other. While I didn't actually see the two gerenuk (Litocranius walleri) in flagrante delicto, the male chased the female around a bit with that intention. Much like a cat in heat, the female gerenuk (the one without horns) crouched down and lifted up her tail, and this put the male (the one with horns) in hot pursuit. If there was a successful mating and fertilization, then about seven months later there would have been a baby gerenuk born at the zoo. As I've said before when discussing gerenuk, it's interesting how long their necks are in proportion to their body, and oddly enough the word gerenuk is Somali for "giraffe-necked."

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Hold on a sec... Wasn't Randy Gerenuk a point guard for the old Fort Wayne Pistons back in '53?