A baby giraffe was born at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo the day after my birthday. The weather Tuesday was gorgeous, so I made a trip to see the new guy.

Isn’t he precious? And he’s SO tiny, which is kind of surreal when you consider that he’s the size of a human adult.

He was hanging out in the giraffe barn, along with a surprising number of adult giraffes. (Maybe it was too chilly for them outside; the mountain was significantly cooler than it was at my house, and there was still quite a bit of snow around.)

One of the adult giraffes lowered her head toward me over the rail, and as she did I tried to focus my camera, thinking what a cool shot this would be. But I underestimated the length of the giraffe’s neck, and suddenly she chuffed at me, covering me in giraffe spit. I jumped back about three feet, and my sunglasses flew off my head, and I would have dropped my camera if it hadn’t been on a strap around my neck. After I caught my breath, I started laughing, and so did the people around me. One of them said, “Guess she doesn’t like the paparazzi!”

This was the shot I’d been trying to get, but I took this one from a safe distance, using that awesome feature called a zoom lens.

Later I saw that giraffe reach over and lick two people who weren’t paying attention, so maybe she was in a mischievous mood.

After leaving the giraffes, I hiked up to the primate house to see Asha and Dembe.

Asha was gnawing on a stick, and Dembe watched her and tried to steal the stick. Asha pulled it away, so he picked up a piece of straw from the floor and started chewing it.

As usual, I visited the mountain lions just before feeding time.

The otters were more active than I’ve ever seen them.

Of course I spent some enjoyable time in the reptile house. A display on the wall presents the “design brief” for the building: the goal was to affiliate reptiles with beauty rather than disgust or revulsion, which is the reason for the artistic and aesthetically attractive presentations. I like it.

Cuban knight anole:

Bearded dragon:

Last stop: African lions. This lioness was stalking a toddler by the glass:

So, a very fun and fulfilling visit!