Giraffe up. The calf emerges head and front legs first, having broken through the fetal membranes, and falls to the ground, severing the umbilical cord. The mother then grooms the newborn and helps it stand up. A newborn giraffe is tall. Within a few hours of birth, the calf can run around and is almost indistinguishable from a one-week-old. However, for the first 1–3 weeks, it spends most of its time hiding; its coat pattern providing camouflage. The ossicones, which have lain flat while it was in the womb, become erect within a few days. Mothers with calves will gather in
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me only recently arrived in England, all the animals are finding it hard to acquire the right food to feed themselves. This includes fish for the Pelican, especially his favourite salmon; walnuts for the Monkey; and pink and purple tinkle-tinkle tree flowers for the Giraffe, who happens to be a "Geraneous Giraffe" and therefore can eat no food other than these flowers. Billy and the animals all band together when they receive a letter from the Duke of Hampshire asking them to clean the 677 windows of Hampshire House. Things go smoothly when they get there until, while cleaning the windows