Giraffe

Call her Abby. That's the name voters have chosen for the Philadelphia Zoo's new baby giraffe. Officially, it's Abigail, but her keepers have already started calling her by the nickname. Abby was born July 17 to 9-year old Stella and her mate, Gus, 4. The first giraffe calf born at the zoo in 13 years, Abby will be on display this weekend from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the zoo says. The other names up for consideration in the public vote were Patricia and Shari. Contact the Inquirer Online Desk at online@phillynews.

Old age has claimed another animal at the Philadelphia Zoo. Twigga, who at 29 was one of the oldest giraffes in the nation, was euthanized Thursday at the zoo, her home since 1979. In announcing her death yesterday, the zoo said the giraffe - tall for a female at 15 feet - had been on medications for age-related arthritis for some time. "Based on Twigga's comfort and behavior, the zoo's veterinary team decided this week that humane euthanasia was now the best course for her," the zoo's statement said.

June the giraffe, the new little bundle of joy at the Philadelphia Zoo who stands 6 feet tall and weighs 120 pounds, will make her formal debut today at the African Plains exhibit. "We knew her mother, Twiggia, was pregnant, but June was delivered a little earlier than we expected," said Dave Wood, the Philadelphia Zoo's curator of large mammals. Some 100 pleasantly shocked zoo visitors witnessed the surpise birth Wednesday on the African Plains exhibit. And when June stood up on her rubbery legs a half-hour after her birth, everybody cheered.

The politicizing of the giraffe started at Christmas. That is when Betty Pihs innocently bought her daughter-in-law Cindy Rau-Hatton, a Township Council member, a giraffe pin. When she saw the gold-trimmed lapel pin with rhinestones at Kohl's department store, Pihs said, she thought it would make a cute accessory to the suits that Rau-Hatton wears to council meetings. Little did Pihs know that she would be inspiring a political icon for her daughter-in-law's reelection bid as an independent.

Without question the most important invention in human history, next to frozen yogurt, is the computer. Without computers, it would be virtually impossible for us to accomploiwur xow;gkc,mf(&( Hold it, there seems to be a keyboard problem here. Let me just try plugging this cable into . . . ERROR ERROR ERROR ALL FILES HAVE BEEN DESTROYED YOU STUPID BAZOOTYHEAD Haha! Considering what a wonderful invention computers are, they certainly have a way of making you sometimes feel like pouring coffee into their private parts and listening to them scream.

One cool, cloudy summer day more than a dozen years ago, my wife-to-be and I were looking for something to do that wouldn't make us feel we had wasted our time coming to the Shore. "Didn't we pass a sign for a zoo on the way in?" she said, somewhat halfheartedly. "Yeah, well, OK, let's give it a try," said I, with maybe only a quarter-aorta in it. So we popped over to the Cape May Zoo, then a small warren of mostly farm animals in the county park in Cape May Court House.

Here's proof that you don't want to get a tongue-lashing from a giraffe. Especially a giraffe licking his chops during feeding time at the Philadelphia Zoo

Lugging his giraffe, Andrew Colliers, 6, and grandmother Charlotte Little Page enjoy the African American Extravaganza at Penn's Landing. The fun includes music, and food and crafts for sale. The event continues from noon to 8 p.m. today at the Great Plaza.

The Philadelphia Zoo will stick out its neck when it comes to protecting Kaboom the giraffe. Yesterday, the zoo decided to move the animal from a Texas ranch - where hunting had been allowed - to Zoo World in Panama City, Fla. In about two weeks, Kaboom will step into a wooden crate with a space for his head to poke out and be trucked hundreds of miles to the new home. "It's unfortunate that we have to move the animal again," said Rick Biddle, chief operating officer of the Philadelphia Zoo. "But I think it's young enough to do quite well in the transfer.

A FIRE has killed a mother giraffe, her 3-week-old calf and a collection of exotic birds at a Burlington County zoo where the owner's wife died in a fire months ago. Animal Kingdom Zoo owner Burton Sipp said three dogs and four cats also died in Sunday night's fire. It's the second fire to strike this year at the private zoo in Springfield Township. Bridget Sipp was killed in April when a fire burned the couple's log cabin on the property. No animals were hurt then. Sipp said he flew home from Phoenix early yesterday after hearing about this weekend's fire.

Two giraffes and as many as 15 parrots died Sunday in the second fatal fire this year on a Burlington County property that houses a zoo and pet store. About 20 dogs were rescued from their kennels, said George Sipp, whose brother, Burton, is a longtime owner of Animal Kingdom Zoo on Jacksonville-Jobstown Road in Springfield Township. Seven giraffes, among those stabled in a barn attached to the store, were unharmed in the three-alarm blaze. Burton Sipp's wife, Bridget, also a co-owner, died in an April house fire on the 38-acre property.

Every time a new ticket/ID holder comes out, I rush to see whether it's the perfect vehicle for carrying tickets, IDs, and baggage-claim slips through airport security checkpoints. None can match Baggallini's nylon Ticket Organizer , a big. sturdy neck pouch (9.25 inches long by 4.75 inches wide), now available in funky zebra or giraffe patterns in addition to black and a slew of bright colors. The pouch has three big slash pockets for tickets, passport, and ID. A separate clear-plastic ID holder with a strap attached to the bottom pocket tucks into that pocket when it's not needed.

Call her Abby. That's the name voters have chosen for the Philadelphia Zoo's new baby giraffe. Officially, it's Abigail, but her keepers have already started calling her by the nickname. Abby was born July 17 to 9-year old Stella and her mate, Gus, 4. The first giraffe calf born at the zoo in 13 years, Abby will be on display this weekend from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the zoo says. The other names up for consideration in the public vote were Patricia and Shari. Contact the Inquirer Online Desk at online@phillynews.

Take the flat tire that was Madagascar . Retread it with The Lion King storyline. Pump it up with air. Now you have Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa , an overinflated sequel to the one about the lion, the zebra, the giraffe and the hippo liberated from the Central Park Zoo and deposited (by penguin commandos) on the island nation off the east coast of Africa. As in the first installment of the DreamWorks animation, M2 suggests that to flourish in the jungle it helps to have street smarts.

Old age has claimed another animal at the Philadelphia Zoo. Twigga, who at 29 was one of the oldest giraffes in the nation, was euthanized Thursday at the zoo, her home since 1979. In announcing her death yesterday, the zoo said the giraffe - tall for a female at 15 feet - had been on medications for age-related arthritis for some time. "Based on Twigga's comfort and behavior, the zoo's veterinary team decided this week that humane euthanasia was now the best course for her," the zoo's statement said.

Puzzles the giraffe, one of the Philadelphia Zoo's most beloved animals, was remembered yesterday as a "gentle and friendly favorite" after being euthanized last week, zoo officials said. Puzzles, 27, had been suffering from failing health due to advanced age. She died Friday. The female reticulated giraffe was among the oldest in the United States. At 13 feet, 6 inches, she wasn't particularly tall. But Puzzles was the most easily identifiable of the zoo's three-member herd due to a large growth on her neck.

California guv faces recall, says his 'juices are flowing' California Democrat Gray Davis will have to fight to keep his job this fall in the nation's first gubernatorial recall election in 82 years, state officials announced yesterday after tallying the results of a Republican-led petition drive that seemed farfetched just months ago. Secretary of State Kevin Shelley said counties had reported 1.3 million valid petition signatures, well...

With only about 53 shopping days left until Christmas, the quest to buy toys to put under the tree and in stockings is well under way. Auctioneer Barry S. Slosberg provides a great opportunity tomorrow and Sunday to acquire toys for kids of all ages as he conducts a gallery sale featuring 400 lots daily of antique and collectible toys, many in their original boxes. Tomorrow's sale will include items from the 1930s to the present, featuring Disney characters on Ohio Art sand pails and watering cans, nodders and rare European items; Fisher Price toys from the 1940s; H.O. scale and standard gauge Lionel trains; Kenner Star Wars large-size action figures; and Corgi Super Heroes figures.

WHO WOULD'VE thought a giraffe living in West Philly could wreak such havoc? This thing is so out of control that I confess to dreaming about shooting him between the eyes to put us all out of our misery. You know the giraffe, it's the one on the side of that balloon drifting high above the Philadelphia Zoo. It's a traffic menace. It gives new meaning to "gaper delay. " All summer, I have driven the expressway, only to get stuck behind people tapping their brakes to take a peek.