Giraffe is the tallest of all living animals. Male giraffes may grow more than 18 feet (5.5 meters) tall—5 feet (1.5 meters) taller than the African elephant, the second tallest animal. Most adult male giraffes stand at just over 17 feet (5.2 meters) tall, and most females grow to about 14 feet (4.3 meters) in height. The giraffe gets its great height from its legs, which are 6 feet (1.8 meters) long, and a neck that may be even longer. Even though giraffes tower over other animals, most adult males weigh about 2,600 pounds (1,200 kilograms). By comparison, a male African elephant may weigh more than five times as much.
Giraffes can be found in 21 countries in Africa south of the Sahara. They inhabit a wide range of habitats, including open woodlands, savannas, and deserts. They feed mostly on the leaves, seeds, twigs, and flowers of trees and bushes. A giraffe, like a cow, chews a cud, which is food that has entered the stomach but is returned to the mouth for a second chewing. In dry regions, giraffes can go without drinking water for many weeks. They get water from the leaves they eat.
The body of a giraffe.
A giraffe’s coat has patchlike markings of tawny (light brownish-yellow) to chestnut-brown. The lines that separate the patches are usually lighter tawny or white. This color pattern may help to protect giraffes by making them hard to see when they stand among trees. Each individual giraffe has its own distinct coat pattern.
Bony hornlike growths, called ossicones, extend from a giraffe’s skull. These ossicones, which are covered by skin and hair, resemble a deer’s antlers before the antlers develop branches. They are not true horns because they do not have a hard covering. Some giraffes also have one or more short ossicone bumps on the forehead. The ossicones of the female are smaller than those of the male.
A giraffe uses its long upper lip and its tongue, which is about 18 inches (46 centimeters) long, to gather leaves from tree branches. Giraffes have good vision and hearing. A giraffe seldom uses its voice, though it can utter a variety of soft sounds, including snorts, moans, and bellows.
Despite the length of its neck, a giraffe has only seven neck bones—the same number that human beings and most other mammals have. A short mane grows along the back of the neck from the head to the shoulders. The sloping back measures about 5 feet (1.5 meters) from the base of the neck to the base of the tail. The tail, which is about 3 feet (91 centimeters) long, ends in a tuft of long, black hairs. A giraffe’s hoofs are split into two parts. Each part consists of the hardened tip of one toe. A giraffe’s closest relative—and the only other member of the giraffe family—is the okapi.
The life of a giraffe.
A female giraffe carries her young inside her body for about 14 months before giving birth. Giraffes bear one baby at a time, except for rare cases of twins. At birth, a calf (baby giraffe) may stand as tall as 6 feet (1.8 meters) and weigh as much as 150 pounds (68 kilograms). It can stand up within an hour and soon follows its mother. The cow (female giraffe) nurses its young with milk for up to a year, though the baby eats small amounts of green plants from the age of 2 weeks. A female can bear her first baby when she is 5 years old. In the wild, giraffes may live to around 25 years of age.
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Giraffes walk by moving both legs on one side of the body forward almost together and then both legs on the other side. When they gallop, both hind feet swing forward and land outside and in front of the front feet. Giraffes can gallop up to 35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour.
To drink, a giraffe spreads its forelegs far apart, or bends them forward, so that its mouth can reach down to the water. When lying down, it holds its neck upright or folds its neck back to rest its head on its body or on a low tree limb.
Giraffe eating
Female giraffes and their young often form small, loosely organized groups. They are joined from time to time by adult males. Giraffes have been known to walk over large distances during their lifetime. Some giraffes have covered areas as large as 3,860 square miles (10,000 square kilometers). However, in places where food is plentiful, giraffes do not usually move as far and cover areas of about 39 square miles (100 square kilometers). Sometimes bulls (male giraffes) will fight with each other to determine dominance. A bull fights with another bull by standing alongside his opponent and swinging his neck to head butt the chest or neck of its opponent. As a fight becomes serious, these blows become more powerful; however, giraffes rarely injure each other. Female giraffes do not fight.
Lions are the only animals that regularly attack adult giraffes. Giraffes defend themselves by kicking with their feet. Their kicks are sometimes powerful enough to kill a lion. Young giraffes may be killed by lions, leopards, hyenas, and crocodiles.
Giraffes and people.
People have greatly reduced the number of giraffes by hunting them and by changing lands once occupied by giraffes into farms. Today, most giraffes live in national parks or game preserves. In the 1980’s, scientists estimated that there were more than 150,000 giraffes across Africa. By the mid-2010’s, scientists believe the number shrank to fewer than 100,000 giraffes. This decrease in number makes the giraffe vulnerable to extinction.
People use giraffes for many purposes. For example, some Africans use the tail hairs for bracelets and string. They may use the hides for shields and twist shredded tendons (cords of tissue that connect muscle to bone) to make bowstrings. A few African ranches raise giraffes for meat and occasionally some giraffes are poached (illegally hunted) for meat.
