giraffe

Animals

2022

We explain everything about giraffes, where they live, their diet and other characteristics. Also, their reproduction and how long they live.

The giraffe is the tallest animal known on the entire planet.

What is a giraffe?

The giraffe is a kind of mammals Quadrupeds of African origin, recognizable by their mottled fur and long neck, capable of reaching 2 meters between the torso and the head. Scientific name Giraffa camelopardalis, it is a very iconic animal of the fauna African and also the tallest animal known in the entire planet, since it can reach between 5 and 6 meters in total height in its adult stage.

The name of giraffe comes from the Arabic ziraafa, translatable as "high", and the Romans who knew it baptized it as camelopardalis, that is, a mixture of camel and leopard, undoubtedly due to the color of its fur. The first known giraffe in the West was brought to Europe by the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar (100 - 44 BC), returning from his campaigns in Egypt and Asia Minor.

The evolutionary origin of these animals places them in the Miocene, around eight million years ago, and together with the okapis they are the only non-extinct species of the giraffe family (Giraffidae).

Giraffes are beautiful and striking animals, which were already represented in ancient Egyptian tombs. Its preservation, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), constitutes less of a concern, since giraffes in free life or in captivity continue to be abundant. Still, the decline of up to 40% in the total population of the species between 1895 and 2015 is alarming.

Giraffe characteristics

The giraffe's tongue can reach 50 cm long.

The giraffe is characterized by the following:

  • It is a large, quadruped animal, whose weight varies between 600 and 1500 kg, and whose height can reach 6 meters. Its most recognizable features are its long neck, capable of extending for 2 meters, and its mottled, yellowish and brown fur.
  • Giraffes are great runners, capable of speeds of the order of 50 kmph over short distances. They are social animals, usually moving slowly through the African grasslands in groups of six.
  • They have a prehensile tongue that can reach 50 cm long, and is black-purple in color. With it the animal can catch the leaves of the trees that it reaches thanks to its height, or clean itself.
  • They also have a one meter long tail, which culminates in a lock of long, dark hair.
  • As they age, the males of the species develop small cranial protrusions thanks to calcium deposits.
  • They have a sense of smell and the hearing very sharp, and their eyes arranged one on each side of the head are capable of perceiving color. Also, their nostrils, unlike us, can be closed at will.
  • Giraffes' long necks have an unusually elastic system of valves and blood vessels, allowing them to move their heads without fainting.

Where do giraffes live?

Giraffes are present in almost every zoo in the world, but their habitat traditional are grasslands or plains African, and even the woods open, where they inhabit nomadic groups of about 20 individuals.

Their majority distribution is in sub-Saharan West Africa, Southeast Africa, and the Angola and South Africa regions. Traditionally, up to 9 subspecies of giraffe have been identified, distributed throughout this territory.

What giraffe eat?

As it reaches the highest branches, the giraffe does not compete for food with other herbivores.

Giraffes are herbivores ruminants, whose long necks allow them to reach the highest foliage of the trees, without incurring much competence with other herbivorous animals.

These leaves are not only rich in nutrients and calcium, but they are more nourishing to the giraffe than to other herbivores because it has a particularly efficient digestive system among ruminant mammals. Their favorite trees to eat are the acacia, and the plant families of the commiphora and the terminalia.

How do giraffes reproduce?

A newborn giraffe is about 6 feet tall.

Like all mammals, giraffes reproduce sexually and through viviparism. The males compete with each other for access to the females and usually only the most dominant are able to reproduce, after having defeated the others in a split-neck fight, that is, through the "necking" of the species.

Giraffes gestation lasts more than a year, at the end of which they give birth to a single offspring, which is ready to walk after a short time after being born. A newborn giraffe is around six feet tall and is usually suckled by its mother for just a few months, at most a year.

How long do giraffes live?

In their wild habitat, a giraffe lives an average of 25 years, as they are accustomed prey to lions, crocodiles of the Nile and leopards. In captivity, however, they can live well beyond this limit.

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