Let’s talk about giraffes. You know what, no. I am not going to start with giraffes. That’s not what this article is about. Giraffes already get enough attention as it is, with their long necks, tall stature, cool spots and insufferable superiority complex – I get it.

What we all really need to be focusing on are birds.

And I know, I know. Birds don’t seem nearly as cool as giraffes. They aren’t even my favorite animal. But just hear me out – we see geese all of the time. How do they make us feel? Do we stop and admire them, maybe even scramble to take pictures as we stare in awe? No, of course not.

But why aren’t we? Geese have some freaky proportions. I mean just look at the neck-to-body ratio. They’re gangly in places they shouldn’t be. Ah, and wait – what animal does this remind you of? That’s right! A godforsaken giraffe. I know that they’re yellow and bigger than birds, but must one animal take precedence over another similarly interesting animal simply because it takes up more of our vision? I think not.

Now, so far, we’ve only touched on one kind of bird that has similarly unsettling proportions to a giraffe. Don’t you worry – we have many others to look at and feel glad that we have normal limbs in comparison. Not even just limbs; look around really quickly. Isn’t it wonderful that you didn’t have to move a half of your entire body to do that?

Now, swans. When one pictures a swan, it can be easy to imagine a graceful, sort of mystical creature. With this image in your mind, I urge you, Google a picture of a swan flying. Do you see how long their necks are? What do they need all of that for? Why don’t we put them in the same category of coolness as giraffes? These questions plague me constantly, and they should plague you too.

A third wonderful, and often overlooked, odd bird is the gorgeously terrifying emu. With their unsettling eyes, lopsided stance and suspiciously genie-bottle-shaped body, what’s not to like? These birds, once again, have very similar standout features to giraffes. And yet, they continue to be ignored on our long-neck cool scale (which is a real thing, Google it – I dare you). Since I know some of you out there like math and numbers, I’ve gone ahead and conducted a survey on this phenomenon.

Out of 113 people via a poll on the Township Times Instagram, a whopping 78 voted giraffes as cooler than birds with kindred features (long neck, strange proportions, etc.). 

As you can likely imagine, I was saddened by this statistic. The following thoughts crossed my mind: What is it about giraffes that make them so alluring? Why do we disregard the birds with similar features to giraffes? And what can we do about this?

Luckily for you, I’ve since pondered and come up with a solution. First, giraffes are so alluring because of the way that we perceive them based on the media. And I don’t mean Instagram or TikTok. I mean children’s books. We are, from a young age, conditioned to pay more attention to giraffes because of their constant appearances in children’s literature in comparison to our aforementioned geese, swans and emus. Another factor in this is their distance from us. They’re so interesting to so many people because many of us haven’t ever seen them in person. Secondly, these birds are creatures that many of us see weekly (maybe not emus, unless you’re Australian, in which case ‘ello mate). We are simply desensitized to their beauty in the same way that our favorite food will never taste as good as it did the first time we ate it.

Now, finally, what can we do? On a small scale- appreciate them! See a swan and think, “Wow. That’s an odd little guy. I like his obscenely long neck.” Say hi to the geese! If you ever go to Australia, give the emus a good hug. On a broader scale, recognize that just because things become common to us does not mean that we have to become ignorant of their importance. Notice when you do, and make a conscious effort to appreciate the things that you’ve forgotten about. And hey! Maybe one day you’ll recognize this and write a silly article about it and put it in your school newspaper… just maybe.