Giraffe

Giraffes may eat up to 75 pounds of food each day, so they eat most of the day. They are ruminants, which means they regurgitate their food after swallowing to chew on it again. Their favorite leaves are from thorny acacia trees. Giraffes have long tongues that help them reach the leaves while avoiding the thorns. These leaves are full of water, so giraffes can go a long time without drinking. Giraffes can drink as much as 10 gallons of water in a day.

At the Zoo, giraffes receive alfalfa hay, assorted browse, a specially formulated herbivore pellet, and romaine lettuce. 

Giraffes are native to Africa and are mainly found south of the Sahara in eastern and southern countries. However, they have disappeared from most of western Africa, except for some small populations. They have been reintroduced in South Africa to protected game reserves. 

The reticulated subspecies of giraffes live in north-eastern Kenya and across the borders in south-eastern Ethiopia and south-western Somalia. Masai giraffes are found in southern Kenya and large areas of Tanzania.

Giraffes typically roam the grasslands and open woodland habitats.

Giraffes have some natural predators, including lions, leopards, hyenas, and crocodiles. These animals usually target young, sick, or old giraffes. Healthy adult giraffes can usually defend themselves against most predators.

The threats to giraffe populations are different depending on where they live. One of the biggest dangers for all African wildlife, including giraffes, is habitat loss. This is mainly due to deforestation, farming, and land being used for different purposes as human populations increase. Droughts are also becoming more frequent because of poor land use and global warming. Additionally, local conflict and poaching can threaten giraffes and their habitats.

Giraffes are the tallest animals in the world. They have seven long bones in their necks, just like humans! Both male and female giraffes have horn-like bumps on their heads called ossicones, which are covered in hair and made of hard cartilage. Their body shape makes their front legs look longer than their back legs because of a sloping back from their shoulders to their tails. Giraffes have long, strong legs that let them run fast when they need to, reaching speeds of up to 35 miles per hour for short distances, and they can maintain a speed of about 10 miles per hour over longer distances. Their unique patterned coats serve as camouflage, allowing them to blend in with the leaves and shadows in their habitat.

Their long eyelashes keep dust and debris out of their big eyes, and they have fantastic distance vision, allowing them to see nearly all around them. This height gives them the nickname "watchtowers of the Serengeti." If a giraffe suddenly runs away, other animals pay attention because it probably spotted a predator.

Giraffes have long, flexible lips and dark purple-black tongues that can be up to 18 inches long, which help them grab and pull leaves off branches. Their thick, sticky saliva protects their mouths from sharp thorns when they eat. As ruminants, giraffes have a four-chambered stomach that helps them digest tough plant materials like leaves. Giraffes have a specialized circulatory system. The heart is exceptionally large to pump blood up the long neck to the head. They also have very high blood pressure. Additionally, they have special valves in their circulatory system that adjust the blood pressure when they bend down to drink.

Giraffes can mate at any time of the year, but they usually breed the most during the rainy season. After a long pregnancy of 14 to 15 months, a single calf is born, arriving feet first and dropping about six feet to the ground. When they're born, giraffe calves are already around six feet tall! They can stand and walk within an hour and start drinking milk from their mothers right away.

To stay safe from predators, young calves often hide on the ground during the day. The mother giraffe will come back to feed her calf at night, staying close to protect it. After four to five weeks, older calves begin to gather in "nursery" groups, where one mother watches over them.

By about four months old, young giraffes start to eat leaves but usually keep nursing until they are about nine months old. Female giraffes (cows) tend to stay with the herd, while male giraffes (bulls) often become solitary and seek their own group as they grow older.

Giraffes are thought of as silent animals, but they can grunt, whistle and bleat. They snort when alarmed. Studies suggest that giraffes vocalize below the level of human hearing and can communicate over a long distance.

Giraffes live in loose herds composed of males and females of all ages. Males establish hierarchy by a behavior called “necking.” During necking, bulls hit their necks together, push each other, and sometimes wrap their necks around each other to see who is stronger. This helps them compete for the chance to mate with females. To protect themselves from predators or other giraffes, they can also kick with their strong legs.

Giraffes rest with their eyes open, standing or lying for three to five minutes at a time. A giraffe rarely sleeps more than one total hour per day.