🐾 Giraffe

Giraffe

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Who it is

• Scientific name: Giraffa camelopardalis
• Family & relatives: A member of the family Giraffidae; its only close living relative is the okapi.
• How to spot it: Unmistakable with its extremely long neck and legs, patchwork coat, and short skin-covered horns called ossicones.

Its body & abilities

• Size: Stands about 4.3-5.7 m tall, the tallest of all land animals.
• Weight: Males can weigh up to about 1,200-1,900 kg.
• Body & adaptations: A special network of blood vessels controls blood pressure so it does not faint when it lifts or lowers its huge neck.
• Top speed: Can gallop up to about 60 km/h in short bursts.
• Strength: A single kick from its powerful legs can injure or kill a lion.
• Senses: Its great height plus sharp eyesight gives it an early warning view across the savanna.
• Growing up: A calf drops about 2 m to the ground at birth, stands within an hour, and reaches adulthood by around 4-5 years.

Where it lives

• Habitat: Savannas, grasslands, and open woodlands.
• Where in the world: Scattered across sub-Saharan Africa.
• Territory: Not strongly territorial; roams large, loosely shared home ranges.

What it eats

• Diet: Herbivore that can go days without drinking, getting moisture from leaves.
• Favorite foods: Mainly acacia leaves, plus buds, fruit, and twigs.
• How it hunts: Browses high branches, using a tough 45-cm tongue to strip leaves past sharp thorns.

How it behaves

• How it moves: Walks by moving both legs on one side together, and gallops with a rocking stride.
• When it is active: Active mostly by day, feeding for many hours and sleeping very little.
• Family life: Social in loose, changing groups; a group is famously called a tower.
• How it talks: Communicates through posture, necking contests, and low infrasound sounds humans can barely hear.
• Babies: After about a 15-month pregnancy the mother has one calf and nurses it, with mothers sometimes sharing calf-watching duties.

Its place in nature

• Role in nature: Shapes trees by browsing and spreads seeds; adults are mainly hunted by lions, with calves also taken by hyenas and leopards.
• Conservation: IUCN Vulnerable, declining from habitat loss, poaching, and civil unrest.
• Dangers: Calves face heavy predation; adults die from lions, drought, and human threats.

Life & legacy

• How long it lives: Often 20-25 years in the wild.
• In our culture: Long admired for its elegance and featured in African art and folklore.
• Where to see it: Seen on African safaris in parks like Serengeti and Kruger, and in zoos worldwide.
• Fun fact: A giraffe's neck holds just seven bones, the same number as in a human neck, only much larger.