Legs the Story of a Giraffe

Imburugutu is a giraffe whose name means, in Swahili, "long neck and sticking-up ears." Born on the great African plain, young Imburugutu eats his favourite whistling thorn all day and sleeps comfortably protected by his mother at night. Then, after Imburugutu's mother is killed, he is quickly captured by the human hunters and shipped overseas to a big-city zoo. There, though treated with kindness by the giraffe keeper, he is shunned by the other giraffes, except for Shining Eyes, a young female. Imburugutu is strongly attracted to her, but in vying for her attentions, he loses his life, struggling against another male giraffe.

Illustrated throughout with lovely, evocative drawings by Ann Baumann,  this book, which is based on a true incident, gives a fascinating picture of a giraffe's life in the wild and in captivity.

Young readers will be deeply moved by this gentle and authentic story about one of the most beautiful wild animals on earth.

A young giraffe growing up in Kenya is captured and transported to a zoo.