GIRAFFES
Mammal     -     Vertebrate     -     Herbivore
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MASAI GIRAFFE
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RETICULATED GIRAFFE
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ROTHSCHILD GIRAFFE

Male   .......................................................  Bull.  Sire
Female   ...................................................  Cow
Young  ......................................................  Calf

COLLECTIVE NOUNS
  • A corps of giraffes
  • A group of giraffes
  • A herd of giraffes
  • A journey of giraffes
  • A stretch of giraffes
  • A totter of giraffes
  • A tower of giraffes
Giraffes ...
  • 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 as most other mammals, including humans - seven!
  • Have black tongues
  • 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 times
  • 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
  • Sleep only about 2 hours a day
  • 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
  • Only has 7 bones in its neck - the same number as a human
  • 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

  1. The Masai Giraffe - South Kenya and Tanzania
  2. The West African Giraffe - West Africa  ..... only about 160 individuals left
  3. The Rothschild Giraffe - Kenya and Uganda ... down to the last few hundred
  4. The Reticulated Giraffe (also known as the Somali Giraffe) - Somalia, North Kenya and South Ethiopia
  5. The Kordofan Giraffe - North Cameroon, South Chad, Central African Republic and (possibly) West Sudan
  6. The Thornicroft Giraffe (also known as the Rhodesian Giraffe) - Luangwa Valley in East Zambia
  7. The South African Giraffe - South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe
  8. The Angolan Giraffe (also called the Smoky Giraffe) - South Angola, North Namibia, South West Zambia, Botswana and West Zimbabwe
  9. The Nubian Giraffe - East Sudan and North East Congo 

SIMILE
  • As tall as a giraffe
IDIOMS, METAPHORS AND EXPRESSIONS
  1. Knee-high to a giraffe