Top 5 merit badges for when you’re waiting for April the giraffe to give birth
The internet has fallen in love with April, a pregnant 15-year-old giraffe living at the Animal Adventure Park near Binghamton, N.Y.
A giraffe pregnancy lasts 15 months, and April has been pregnant for 15 months. So it’s time. Time for everyone to spend hours staring at the live video feed of April’s pen, waiting for baby giraffe hooves to appear.
I’ve embedded the video stream at the bottom of this post.
We might as well be productive while we wait, so I present to you the five merit badges that are useful when waiting for April the giraffe to give birth.
Mammal Study
There’s no requirement to “watch a pregnant giraffe roam her pen for at least 15 consecutive hours.”
Yet.
Instead, Scouts who earn the Mammal Study merit badge escape the clutches of YouTube to study mammals outside. For one requirement, they must spend 15 hours outside (over five days) tracking mammal species across a 25-acre area.
Veterinary Medicine
April’s vet, Dr. Tim, has been keeping viewers updated on the giraffe’s pregnancy. He has assured viewers that, no, he isn’t concerned that her pregnancy has gone on for so long. He shared this message on Facebook:
Yes, it will be awesome when the calf arrives. No, watching after April is not my only job. Yes, we have been watching her for a very long time… enjoy the <free> show people. Get more popcorn.
For the Veterinary Medicine merit badge, Scouts don’t just watch veterinarians like Dr. Tim online. They get to spend a lot of time observing them in person as these men and women keep the animals we love happy and healthy.
Gardening
April the giraffe loves to eat carrots and romaine lettuce — in addition to her usual giraffe diet.
Scouts who earn the Gardening merit badge get to grow six vegetables, three from seeds and three from
seedlings, through harvest.
What Scouts do with those veggies — eat them, donate them, feed them to a giraffe — is up to them.
Woodwork
The giraffe pen at Animal Adventure Park is one of the largest in the nation.
While you watch April roam her pen, why not create one of your own at home? This carpentry project is just like the one Scouts get to complete for the Woodwork merit badge.
After all, you never know when you might need somewhere to house the next animal to become a YouTube sensation.
Pets
April’s baby, when it finally arrives, will weigh around 150 pounds and be 6 feet tall.
Scouts who earn the Pets merit badge get to care for a pet for four months.
See where I’m going with this? There’s nothing in the merit badge requirements that specifically prohibits a Scout from keeping a giraffe as a pet. Other than, you know, low ceilings.
What’d I miss?
What other merit badges belong on this list? Remember the rule: This is a Top 5 list. If you add one, you have to say which one you’d remove.
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Top 5 merit badges for when you’re waiting for April the giraffe to give birth