Something highly unusual happened in the valley Thursday that sounds like the beginning of a bad joke.
Ozzie, a 3-year-old giraffe, got painting lessons.
"I couldn't turn down the opportunity to collaborate with a giraffe on a painting," said Donovan Fitzgerald, a classical painter.
Fitzgerald received help on his latest landscape from Ozzie, who lives at the Lion Habitat Ranch in Henderson. For a few strokes at a time, Ozzie grasped the brush with his lips and spread paint on the canvas.
"He's the only giraffe in Nevada," said Keith Evans, the president of the habitat. "He's the only giraffe that I know that paints with this extent anywhere in the world."
A crowd gathered to watch the unusual skill, including several families.
"It's very exciting that we have this," said Michele Tell-Woodrow, a mother. "Have you ever seen a giraffe paint like that? Right here in the heart of Las Vegas."
Ozzie tired himself out eventually and then Fitzgerald completed the landscape in the next few minutes.
The giraffe's work will be exclusively displayed at the Vignette's Art gallery in Henderson.
A fundraiser will be held there June 3.
