Petite Lap Giraffes are very peculiar animals. The average adult is 76 centimeters tall and weights a mere 4.5kg "unless the giraffe is a fat cow, then 5.44kg." They are on a strict diet of bonsai tree leaves and distilled water and have no reported reoccurring health problems. They are very tame creatures that never bite, get along with children and use a litter box. The only special care these darlings need are lots of love and hugs and kisses "otherwise they make tears"!

The Petite Lap Giraffes are bred exclusively in Russia at Sokoblovsky, the one and only purveyor of petite lap giraffes located just 80km outside Krasnodar. As history tells us, it all started when Nicolas Sokoblovsky escaped from a traveling circus with his best friend, Alex the PLG. For the next century, the Sokoblovsky family have been successfully breeding PLGs in Russia for the wealthy.

Today I quickly became infatuated with PLGs after seeing a tweet about them, @LapGiraffe, then seeing their prime time debut in the new DirecTV commercials.

I just had to know: Are Petite Lap Giraffes real?!

The obvious answer would be no... but this DirecTV campaign has made PLGs incredibly believable. Just go to www.petitelapgiraffe.com and see what I mean!

The Sokoblovsky Farms homepage features an about section, a PLG photo album, information on calves and a live feed of the farm.

The photo album is perhaps my favorite, mainly because of the picture of the PLG lounging on a luxurious couch. It is in this section that the DirecTV commercials are shown with the explaination that "our customers always supreme happy with the babies. So much so they send photographs and even commercials."

Sokoblovsky Farms explains that there are no calves available at this time. However, they are currently expecting the arrival of Vladimir and Svetlana's calf in approximately 156 days. What I find confusing is how they are breeding PLGs when they originally only had one. Very peculiar.... Despite my doubts, I signed up to adopt one and I was put on the waiting list--#181,124!

Curiously enough, I have yet to see a PLG walk into view of the live cameras that are set up. I've been watching the stream for about an hour, but I am told that if I don't see him, not to worry, he'll come back.  Okay then, I'll just wait for him!

I'm still on the fence about whether or not Petite Lap Giraffes are real or not. I'm leaning a little toward the fictitious side of the fence though.

This is an ingenious advertising campaign for DirecTV. In a culture that is obsessed with internet sensations, this was a great way for them to generate buzz and keep the bloggers talking. An urban legend, a few hours of Photoshop and a good Russian accent will get you months of entertainment and a definite viral campaign. Good work!