#mstari

I found out that giraffes, due to their height, have to squat in a rather awkward position when they want to drink water due to their necks not being long enough to reach the ground - and because I'm trying to get practice drawing animals in different poses, I thought it would be a good bit of practice to draw Mti bending down to drink. I also wanted to include Mstari standing watch to protect his partner from any predators (and I included the Swahili term 'mpenzi wangu' (my love) as a term of endearment :) ) - and he could be blushing either because of the opportunity to protect him, or because he couldn't resist the urge to stare as Mti bends over. XD (And I made sure to get Mstari's hooves right this time.  )

EDIT: A friend on DA pointed out I did Mstari and Nusu’s hooves cloven as opposed to equine (not sure how I made that mistake, but it’s not I haven’t drawn equine hooves before ^_^;) so I corrected them. :) 

Seen as I had this drawing in the works, I thought it would be a fitting idea to finish and upload this on Father's Day, seen as it involves Nusu the Okapi watching in awe as one of his dads, Mstari, shows off his strength by knocking down an old withered tree. :D (And I know I won't be able to get it finished for Father's Day, but I'll try to get one with him and Mti done soon too so he's seen bonding with Zebra Dad AND Giraffe Dad. :) ) A fun fact, my good friend @cartoon-and-animal-lover pointed out to me that a lot (if not all) of the African animals that I've been drawing are found in Ethiopia, so that’s giving me ideas for backgrounds and such to include in future pieces with these characters. (And thanks to my friend, he's been suggesting a possible story that could involve these characters, so there may be some updates related to that soon. :D )

Aw, Mom!! Cuddle time @thetorontozoo #BabyLongLegs #Amani #Mstari #Masai #giraffe #giraffesofinstagram #torontozoo #thetorontozoo (at The Toronto Zoo) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCsEU60JPBV/?igshid=oojsh8d9jcec