Works

Giraffe Reflections

“Giraffe Reflections, with photography by Karl Ammann, illuminates the world of one of Africa's most beloved and best-known animals. Are we losing giraffes? How is the explosion in human numbers affecting giraffes? What can anyone do to change the situation? Why should we care? Phylogenetic narcissism limits us into thinking of animals according to what they can do for us, and giraffes happen to belong among those animals who are not particularly useful. Elephants are valued for their ivory. Chimpanzees and other primates are important because they mirror the human primate; their genetic closeness to us makes them useful as laboratory animals in biomedical studies or as subjects for anthropological research. Domestic animals bring meat, companionship, and labor. Giraffes, I believe, give us mainly a fleeting sense of their strange and shy beauty. That should be enough.”