Giraffes are often the early warning signal for other savanna wildlife: if a giraffe herd starts to run, everyone else does, too! Studies suggest giraffes vocalize below the level of human hearing and perhaps use this sound for long-distance communication. Threats-such as lions nearby-may warrant a snort. One sound giraffes make when they’re alarmed is a snort. Many people think that giraffes have no voice, but they do make a variety of sounds, including moos, roars, snorts, hisses, and grunts. That’s a vulnerable position for a giraffe, though, so usually one herd member stays on guard. Giraffes can rest while standing, but they sometimes also lie down with their head resting on their rump. Surprisingly enough, giraffes only need 5 to 30 minutes of sleep in a 24-hour period! They often achieve that in quick naps that may last only a minute or two at a time. You might think watching out for lions and spending 16 to 20 hours a day eating would all weigh heavily on a giraffe. It’s called "pacing." Giraffes can run very fast-around 35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour for short distances. Giraffes have a way of moving, or gait, in which both the front and back legs on one side move forward together, then the other two legs on the other side move forward. Their speed, the way they move, and their body designs also help them to escape predators if they need to. ![]() If they have to, giraffes defend themselves with a deadly kick, karate-style. ![]() There is safety in numbers! It’s hard to pick out one giraffe from another when they form a tight group.īesides humans, only lions and crocodiles hunt them. Giraffes are so big that they really don't need to hide from predators. These calcifications can be quite pronounced, giving the strange appearance of a three- to five-horned giraffe. As a male matures, calcium deposits begin to form on his skull to protect it when he head-butts with other males. Male giraffes use their horns to spar, throwing their neck against each other. For giraffes, however, each one can be over 10 inches (25.4 centimeters) long!īoth male and female giraffes have two distinct, hair-covered horns called ossicones. How many bones are there in a giraffe's neck? Just like humans, giraffes have seven neck vertebrae. The reticulated giraffe, found only in northern Kenya, has a dark coat with a seeming web of narrow white lines. Uganda or Rothschild's giraffes sport large, brown splotches separated by thick, beige lines. Masai giraffes, from Kenya, have patterns that look like oak leaves. Each individual giraffe’s markings are as individual as our fingerprints. The differences occur due to what the giraffes eat and where they live. Giraffe coat colors vary from light tan to practically black. The subspecies have different coat patterns and live in different parts of Africa. That's where the giraffe's name camelopardalis comes from!Īlthough a study of giraffe genetics published in the scientific journal Current Biology concluded that there are actually four distinct species of giraffes-said to be as different from each other as polar bears are from brown bears-one is currently recognized, with nine subspecies. For a long time people called the giraffe a “camel-leopard,” because they believed that it was a combination of a camel and a leopard. ![]() Giraffes have a small hump on their back and have a spotted pattern similar to that of a leopard. A giraffe's heart is 2 feet (0.6 meters) long and weighs about 25 pounds (11 kilograms), and its lungs can hold 12 gallons (55 liters) of air! Its closest relative is the okapi. The back legs look shorter than the front legs, but they are about the same length. The legs of a giraffe are also 6 feet (1.8 meters) long. A giraffe could look into a second-story window without even having to stand on its tiptoes! A giraffe's 6-foot (1.8-meter) neck weighs about 600 pounds (272 kilograms). Hello up there! Why do so many people look up to giraffes-besides the obvious reason? The long and short of it is that they are a wonderful example of nature’s creativity.
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