Picture courtesy of a friend
Giraffe
Shoulder height: 5 to 6 m
Mass: Up to 1 270 kg
Gestation: 15 months - single calf (twins occasionally)
Duration of life: 28 years in captivity
Browsers. Favourite food trees being deciduous. It is believed that they can go without water for a long time, but if water is available, they will drink fairly regularly. A big bull can drink up to 48 litres or more a day. Normal daily consumption though is less than half this figure. They cannot conserve water like a camel.
This is a unique animal when it comes to their physical features. It's only relative in the animal kingdom is the Okapi of the Central African rain forest.
Giraffe have seven neck vertebrae. Their hearts are not exceptionally big but very strong. The blood pressure at the heart is about 260/160, compared to 120/80 to a healthy human being. The neck arteries also have valves like the veins to prevent a back flow of blood. The neck muscles are connected to the dorsal spines of the thoracic vertebrae, which prevents easy lowering of the head and neck to ground level. However, sideways bending is not difficult.
Horns of the bulls are thicker and longer than those of the cows. The cow have tufts of hair at the tips of the horns, whereas the bulls are bare. It is possible then to distinguish between the bull and a cow if only the head is visible. Some sub-species of the giraffe show a tendency to develop more knobs, or so-called horns, on the skull. Extra facial bony outgrowths occur commonly in males and are probably caused by head hitting during fights.
They can run up to 50 km/h. When hunters in the previous century ran them down, the giraffe could keep a brisk pace over a distance of up to 7 kilometres. Their heart beats about 60 beats per minute. Giraffes herds in Kruger Park usually consist of less than twenty.
Sometimes a cow or bull could be the leader of the herd. Bulls stand side by side when fighting. They then hit each other with sweeping blows of the neck and head. These fights are seldom fatal and usually end when one, or both, become too exhausted to continue.
Giraffe are amongst the most inquisitive animals and would stare at strange objects for a very long time. They have an acute sense of sight, hearing seems to be adequate. There is some controversy about their sense of smell as some authors claim it is well developed others deny it. Their nostrils can be closed voluntarily, but the purpose is unknown. Giraffe do possess vocal cords enabling them to utter grunting or bellowing sounds, but this is mainly done under stress. Usually they are silent animals.
Their enemies are leopard, cheetah, crocodiles and lion. It is believed that a giraffe sleeps 20 minutes out of 24 hours. Not all 20 minutes at once though.
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