GIRAFFES
Mammal - Vertebrate - Herbivore
Mammal - Vertebrate - Herbivore
|
|
|
Male: Bull, Sire
|
Female: Cow
|
Young: Calf
|
GIRAFFE
There is only one species of giraffe, but there are multiple subspecies:
- The Okapi is the closest living relative to the giraffe.
- Are the tallest mammals in the world.
- Have the same number of bones in their necks (7) as most other mammals, including humans - seven!
- Their age can be calculated by the number of spots - the darker the spots, the older the giraffe.
- Have blue/ black tongues.
- Have no vocal cords.
- Are born with horns.
- Eat leaves and twigs of the thorny Acacia tree.
- Can go without water for longer than a camel, mainly because the leaves of the Acacia tree contain a lot of water.
- Drinking is one of the most dangerous time for being attacked.
- Can drink about 12 gallons of water at one visit to a waterhole.
- Can last longer than camels without water - as can rats.
- Has excellent eyesight.
- Can lick inside its own ears.
- Has no vocal chord and communicates by vibrating the air around its neck.
- Tongues are blue-black in colour.
- Both male and females have horns - the females' are smaller.
- Each mark on a giraffe is unique to it.
- Rarely lie down - they even sleep standing up and give birth standing up.
- Sleep only about 2 hours a day.
- When ready to give birth, a female giraffe may return to the place where she was born to have her baby.
- Newborn giraffe have to fall about 6ft to the ground..
- Can clean their ears with their very long tongue.
- Lives for about 10-15 years, or up to 20+ in captivity.
- Are used by other animals as observation post for predators.
- Are extremely gentle animals.
- Are the only animal born with horns.
- The heart of the giraffe pumps 160 gallons of blood a minute.
- Can't swim.
- Sleep for only about 20 minutes a day.
There is only one species of giraffe, but there are multiple subspecies:
- The Masai Giraffe - South Kenya and Tanzania
- The West African Giraffe - West Africa ..... only about 160 individuals left
- The Rothschild Giraffe - Kenya and Uganda ... down to the last few hundred
- The Reticulated Giraffe (also known as the Somali Giraffe) - Somalia, North Kenya and South Ethiopia
- The Kordofan Giraffe - North Cameroon, South Chad, Central African Republic and (possibly) West Sudan
- The Thornicroft Giraffe (also known as the Rhodesian Giraffe) - Luangwa Valley in East Zambia
- The South African Giraffe - South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe
- The Angolan Giraffe (also called the Smoky Giraffe) - South Angola, North Namibia, South West Zambia, Botswana and West Zimbabwe
- The Nubian Giraffe - East Sudan and North East Congo
ROTHSCHILD GIRAFFE
|
|