Interesting facts about giraffes

Giraffes are considered as one of the most awesome creatures on the face of the earth. Length of long structure legs of this mammal is almost 6 feet long which is taller than most human beings. Their

Source: Flickr

necks are long and have regal stance. Even they look one of the most beautiful and surreal animals of all. You will be awestruck with the features that they have and the skin color they have. They run quite fast and the speed is 35 miles per hour within short distance and even when they cruise over long distance, their speed is around 10 miles per hour. The interesting thing about the giraffes is that they need to drink only once in every few days as their daily water consumption is met by the leaves of different plants they eat. They roam around in the dangerous fields of African plains with all dangers around them, but they are self-sufficient to protect themselves from all these dangers and with such a tall structure they keep them above everything. Even their mating process is complicated and their pregnancy is of 15 months, during that period the female giraffes generally refuse to mate apart from few times. So, the male giraffes have to keep a track to find out when the female giraffes are ready to mate.

Now, some more interesting facts about giraffes:

1. Giraffe is one of the largest ruminants and one of the tallest terrestrial animals. The neck of giraffe weighs around 270 kilograms and length wise it is about 1.8 meters and you will find his legs to be as long as the necks.

2. They can run long distance as fast as a horse and sometimes even faster than them, but they sleep quite less amount than the other mammals. On an average they sleep around 1.9 hours and mostly the giraffes have 2 to around 4 horns mostly, but some have a fifth one too which is mostly a knob that you will find at the centre of the forehead.

3. The female giraffes give birth while standing up and their young falls from over 5 feet to the ground at the very moment of the birth and the surprising thing is that the baby giraffes can stand within half an hour after their birth and within 10 hours they can start running with their mother.

4. The pattern that you will find on the body of the giraffe is all different and you will not see no two patterns are similar and they look like the human fingerprints.

5. The tongue of the giraffe is black and it is as long as 45 cm and they use their long tongue to clean the nose. They are one of those rare species that can touch their nose with their tongue.

6. The neck of the giraffe is long, but they are not long enough to reach the ground standing, so they have to kneel down or they have to spread their front legs to drink water on the ground.

7. Their tail is quite long and they measure around 8 feet long and they have the longest tail amongst any mammal living on land.

8. The only predator of the giraffe is the lion, they eat giraffe. but the one kick of the giraffe is quite strong to knock them down.

Watch following video gives an idea of intensity of Lion vs Giraffe fight. Here lion pride attacks giraffe. Giraffe give counter attack or defend using leg kick. Giraffe kick will be very powerful, sometimes kills lion in single kick. Unfortunately giraffe unable to defend group of lions attacking from all the sides. Lion is one and only predator in the forest which can kill giraffe and eat them.

9. They have quite a good relation with the Oxpeckers and their relationship is quite symbiotic. The oxpeckers feed on the parasites from the body of the giraffe and in this way the giraffes are getting rid of their parasites; so, both of them are getting benefitted from each other.

Girafee and Oxpeckers - friends with benefits
photography: Flickr

10. The necking which is the two giraffes rubbing their necks, though looks beautiful and cute, but they are actually fighting.

Geraffes necking each other
Source: Flickr

FAQs about Giraffes

What do giraffes eat?

Large portion of giraffe diet consist of leaves and buds on tree. They also eat shrubs, herbs, flowers and fruits. Giraffes browse on trees. Giraffe's long neck is an adaption to reach top of the tree to eat young leaves and shoots. Giraffe tongue, lips and palate are so tough that can easily eat sharp with thorns. Very rarely, giraffes eats grass as well. A adult giraffe eats about 35 kg of food daily.

What is a baby giraffe called?

A baby giraffe called as calf. A group of baby giraffes called as calves.

What sound does a giraffe make?

Is giraffe really do make sounds? Answer is yes. Most people thinks that giraffe do not make any sound. It's a myth. Usually giraffe do not make sound to communicate, they use eyes sights and body langue to communicate each other. However, it has been observed that young giraffes do make sound when the scared. 

Watch following video to know how giraffe makes sound.

Can giraffes swim?

Answer is No. Giraffes can't swim

Do giraffes make noise?

Yes, giraffes capable of making noise.

How tall is a giraffe?

Male giraffe can grow up to 18 feet tall.

Why are giraffes endangered?

Most species of giraffes are not endangered and classified as Least Concern. However, the Rothschild's giraffe and West African giraffe are classified as Endangered.