Giraffe Fast Facts and Educational Information about African Animals

Giraffes are cute and good-natured good-tempered giants of the animal kingdom. But if you were asked to tell more about them, what would you say apart from the facts that they live in Africa, and eat reach acacia leaves with their long tongues?

But we have to say that there are many interesting facts, which many adults and children will find interesting about these animals. And here we present some of them.


10 fun facts about GIRAFFES (presentation of the tallest animals)

#1. Giraffe = camel + leopard?

If you look up the scientific Latin name for giraffe, you will see that these animals are called camelopardalis. Such a name has a very interesting history and is said to have derived from a fusion of two words - camel + leopard because in #Ancient Rome, when people first saw this exotic animal, said that it was as big as a camel but had spots like those of a leopard.

But what people of Ancient Rome didn’t know was that giraffes and camels shared only one similarity: both animals can go without water for a very long time.

#2. Giraffe as a group animal

Giraffes are known to form groups, which, unlike other animal groups, don’t seem to have a strict hierarchy. These groups contain animals of both sexes and different ages and may be joined by outsiders. But these animals were observed to have a rule, which helps them avoid the competition for food - males and females eat the leaves from different parts of the tree.

#3. Giraffe subspecies and relatives

Scientists distinguish between the nine subspecies of giraffes and they belong to the Giraffidae family. But these animals also have an extant relative, called the okapi. This animal he has a much shorter neck, and, unlike its taller animals, it is found in the forests of the Congo and choose to lead solitary, not group life.

#4. The tallest animal on Earth

The standing at over 5 meters (16.4 ft) tall, giraffes claim the titles of the tallest animal in the world. On average, an adult male giraffe weighs over 1,200 kg (2,645 pounds) (but females are almost 50% lighter). Interestingly enough, 250 kg (551 pounds) of full body weight is made up by the neck and 10 kg (22 pounds) - by the heart.

#5. Newborns and babies

Female giraffes give birth in a standing position, so every newborn giraffe is exposed to a fall from a 2 m (6.5 ft) height in the first moments of life. Young giraffes are born with horn-like formations, which are called ossicones.

#6. Days without a drink

Giraffes mostly feast on acacia leaves because they contain a lot of moisture, and provide animals with enough moisture to go without a drink for a long time. These tall animals use their long necks and tongues to extract the foliage from the trees.

#7. What sound do giraffes make?

For many years, thanks to the popular song, everyone continues to wonder, what does the #fox say? But just like foxes, giraffes belong to the list of animals, which are known to make no distinct sound or at least a sound, which we could associate them with.

So, while giraffes are not capable of producing their own sound for communication, these animals are known to emit sounds, similar to bleating, growling, snoring, hissing and sounds, similar to the sound of a flute.

#8. Unbelievable body parts

Giraffes are the animals with abnormally long body parts. So apart from having a very long neck, these #African animals have tails reaching over 2.5 meters (8.2 ft) in length. The length of a giraffe’s tongue may exceed 45 cm (17.7 inches) and it has an unusual black color.

#9. Walking and running speed

It takes an adult giraffe just one step to cover the distance of 4 meters (13.12 ft), so any human will have to run in order to keep up with a slow walking pace of this animal. Scientists label giraffes as animals, which mainly use their front legs, while running but, despite this giraffes can run at speeds up to 50 km/h (31 miles per hour).

#10. Sleeping habits

Giraffes live in an environment filled with potential predators, as a result these animals have formed special adaptations, enabling them to sleep for short periods of time. They are known to sleep not more than 10 minutes at a time. Also, not only do giraffes spend most of their lives standing up but they also sleep in such a fashion too - standing up.

#11. 10 kg heart

Giraffe's heart weighs over 10 kg (22 pounds) and exceeds the length of 60 centimeters (23 inches). It is powerful enough to pump the blood three meters up the neck and into the animals head.

#12. Giraffes vs. lions

Because of their long necks, many giraffes find it challenging to reach the ground in order to get a drink. So to reach the water they have to get on their knees or spread legs in an awkward position, which makes them vulnerable to #lion attacks.

But if a lion does choose to attack, no giraffe would go down without a fight. Although they only have their feet as a protection, they are capable of extremely powerful kicks, which are fierce enough to break a lion’s rib cage.

#13. A form of animal wrestling

Male giraffes solve their disputes over territory and females with the help of necking – this is something similar to animal wrestling, where the tallest animals on Earth use their strongest part of the body, their necks, to hit their enemy as hard as possible.

When necking gets out of hand, giraffes continue their "duel" by exchanging blows with their heads (which have sharp horn-like formations) or use their most powerful weapon - a kick.

Other quick facts about giraffes:

- Just like humans, who have their own unique form of fingerprints, every giraffe has personal skin color pattern. Therefore, zoo workers usually take pictures of some body parts in order to distinguish them in the future. The pattern color may also be used to determine the animal’s age – the darker it is - the older is the animal.

- Many scientists consider giraffes to be the only animals, which don’t have the need for yawning. So, unlike all mammals and cold-blooded animals and birds, no giraffe was ever seen yawning.

- Female giraffes very often form some sort of a kindergarten for their younger ones. As a result, one female stays with the young, while over leave in search of food.

- They can turn their heads by almost 360 degrees.

- Impressive body mass and thin limbs make even normal walking for them
complicated, so giraffes can only move on solid surfaces.

- These animals are found in the African savannas to the south and southeast of the Sahara. In the wild, giraffes they usually live up to 25 years.

Image credits:

1) www.cdn.sci-news.com/images/enlarge2/image_3321_1e-Reticulated-Giraffe.jpg