91 Fun Facts About Giraffe

Fully grown giraffes can stand up to roughly how tall?

Adults range from about 4.3 to 5.7 metres, with males taller than females. Despite the long neck and legs, the body itself is relatively short.

How many cervical vertebrae does a giraffe have in its neck?

Same as a human — seven — each one just enormously elongated; mammals that break the seven rule tend to have neurological problems.

What is the primary food source for giraffes?

Giraffes browse the leaves, flowers and fruit of woody plants, especially acacias, at heights no other ground-based herbivore can reach. They prefer Acacieae, Commiphora and Terminalia trees.

What are the horn-like structures on a giraffe's head called?

Unlike antlers or horns, ossicones are formed from ossified cartilage and are covered in skin and fur. Both male and female giraffes have them, though they may differ in size and shape.

How long is a giraffe pregnant?

About 15 months: gestation runs 400 to 460 days and almost always produces a single calf, delivered standing up.

What does a bull giraffe taste to check whether a cow is ready to mate?

Her urine: the bull nudges the cow's rump until she urinates, tastes the stream and curls back his lip in the flehmen response to detect oestrus.

Approximately how much does an adult giraffe's heart weigh?

A giraffe's heart is remarkably large and powerful, weighing around 25 pounds (11 kilograms), necessary to pump blood up its long neck to the brain against gravity.

With hind legs swinging around its front legs at a gallop, how fast can a giraffe sprint over short distances?

A giraffe can hit 37 mph (60 km/h) in a sprint and hold 31 mph (50 km/h) for several kilometres.

Giraffes usually inhabit which two habitat types?

Savannahs and woodlands: giraffes favour open country dominated by acacia, Commiphora, Combretum and Terminalia trees, and avoid denser Brachystegia woodland.

Due to their height, how do giraffes typically drink water from the ground?

A giraffe either splays its front legs or bends its knees to get its mouth to the water. How it then swallows against gravity is debated; one theory likens the neck to a plunger pump.

Like a human fingerprint, which feature is unique to every individual giraffe?

No two giraffes share their coat pattern; calves inherit some spot traits from their mothers, and in 2023 a spotless calf was found in the wild for the first time.

Which other living mammal is considered the closest relative to the giraffe?

The okapi, a striped forest browser of the Congo Basin, is the giraffe's only living relative in the family Giraffidae; fossil giraffids such as Samotherium had necks midway between the two.

The common English name "giraffe" has its earliest known origins in what language?

The name "giraffe" originated from the Arabic word "zarāfah" (زرافة), which translates to "fast-walker."

Compared to humans, a giraffe's blood pressure at the heart is approximately how many times higher?

To pump blood all the way up its long neck to the brain, a giraffe's heart needs to generate extremely high blood pressure, roughly double that of humans.

Approximately how tall is a newborn giraffe calf at birth?

Giraffe calves are born remarkably tall, typically standing around 6 feet (1.8 meters) at birth, allowing them to stand and walk within an hour.

Compared with other hoofed mammals, giraffe eyes are larger with a greater surface area of which structure?

Retina: giraffe eyes are larger than those of other ungulates and have a greater retinal surface area, and their vision is more binocular than that of most hoofed mammals.

What term describes giraffe society, where stable cliques repeatedly merge with and split from larger groups?

Fission–fusion: giraffe cliques based on kinship and sex persist for years while repeatedly merging with and splitting from larger herds; mothers with calves also gather in nursery groups.

An adult giraffe's prehensile tongue can extend to approximately what length?

About 46 cm (18 inches): the tongue can wrap around a branch and delicately strip off leaves, and its dark colour may protect it from sunburn.

Which animal is the only major predator an adult giraffe has to worry about?

Lion: adults are mostly safe thanks to their size and eyesight, so lions are their only major predator; calves are far more at risk, including from hyenas, leopards and wild dogs.

How much does an adult male giraffe weigh, on average?

Bulls average around 2,600 pounds (1,200 kg); females are far lighter at roughly 1,825 lb.

To push blood up the neck, how thick can the wall of a giraffe's 60 cm-long heart be?

Up to 7.5 cm, thick enough to generate roughly double the pressure of a human heart; valves in the jugular veins stop blood rushing back when the head is lowered.

Who coined the genus name Giraffa in 1762?

Mathurin Jacques Brisson, a French zoologist, erected the genus Giraffa in 1762, four years after Linnaeus had first described the animal under a different genus; six extinct Giraffa species are known from fossils.

When a predator approaches, what is an adult giraffe's main means of defence?

Delivering powerful kicks, any one of which can be lethal, keeps adults mostly safe; a mother stands over her calf and kicks at anything that comes near.

In what position does a female giraffe typically give birth?

Standing up: the cow gives birth on her feet, and the calf emerges head and front legs first, falling to the ground, which severs the umbilical cord.

Besides camouflage, what second job is a giraffe's blotchy coat pattern believed to do?

Regulating body temperature: the skin under each blotch holds complex blood vessel systems and large sweat glands.

Giraffes have an unusually long lifespan for a cud-chewing hoofed animal, living up to how many years?

Up to 38 years, an unusually long lifespan for a ruminant, linked in genome studies to the same adaptations that let giraffes cope with extreme blood pressure; most wild giraffes fall well short of it.

Giraffes are considered the largest of what group of mammals?

Giraffes are the largest ruminants on Earth, meaning they are even-toed, hoofed mammals that chew their cud, similar to cattle and deer.

When a giraffe lowers its head, what structure in the upper neck prevents excess blood flow to the brain?

A rete mirabile, a net of fine vessels in the upper neck, absorbs the rush of blood; when the head comes back up the vessels constrict and push blood to the brain so the animal does not faint.

The scientific name *Giraffa camelopardalis* refers to the giraffe's resemblance to which two animals?

The term "camelopardalis" is derived from the Greek words for "camel" and "leopard," referring to the giraffe's long neck and spotted coat.

At what approximate age do giraffes reach sexual maturity?

Females can breed from about four years old and males become fertile at three to four, but a male must usually wait until at least seven before he can win the chance to mate.

A giraffe's tongue is described as prehensile, which means it can do what?

A prehensile tongue can grasp foliage: it wraps around a branch and delicately picks leaves off from among the acacia thorns.

How soon after birth can a giraffe calf run around?

Within a few hours: a newborn giraffe can already run about, having stood and walked within roughly its first hour of life.

Swinging their heads like clubs, male giraffes fight for dominance and mates with which behaviour?

In "necking" bouts, bulls swing their necks and heads against each other; one theory holds the long neck evolved for exactly these contests.

Giraffes are native to what continent?

Giraffes are large hoofed mammals native to the continent of Africa, with their scattered range extending across various regions south of the Sahara.

How many chambers does a giraffe's stomach have?

Four: like cattle and deer, giraffes are ruminants with a four-chambered stomach, and their oesophageal muscles are strong enough to bring food back up the long neck for a second chew.

A giraffe's skin can reach a thickness of about how much?

About 20 mm: beneath the coat the skin is mostly grey or tan, and the tight skin of the lower legs also helps stop blood pooling under the enormous pressure there.

A giraffe's tail, which ends in a dark tuft used to swat insects, is roughly how long?

About 80–100 cm: the dark tuft is the giraffe's fly-whisk, and the tail is short compared with the neck and legs, as is the whole body.

The IUCN's 2016 Red List assessment moved the giraffe into which category?

Vulnerable: the 2016 assessment estimated about 97,500 giraffes remained in the wild, a drop of more than a third over three decades, which the BBC called a 'silent extinction'.

When walking, a giraffe moves both legs on one side together, a gait called what?

Pacing: a walking giraffe swings both legs on the same side forward together, a lateral gait it shares with camels; at speed it switches to a gallop, its only other gait.

Why do mother giraffes leave their calves together in a 'calving pool' under one female's watch?

So mothers can forage elsewhere, and the sitter will only alert her own calf if she senses trouble, though the others notice and follow.

Like other ruminants, giraffes lack which teeth?

Upper front teeth: like cattle and deer, giraffes have no upper incisors or canines, only a hard dental pad against which the lower teeth strip leaves from branches.

Besides eyesight, which two giraffe senses are described as sharp?

Hearing and smell: along with colour vision, giraffes' senses of hearing and smell are sharp, and their height gives them a lookout's view that other savannah animals rely on for early warning.

How many digits do a giraffe's feet typically have?

Two: giraffes are even-toed ungulates bearing their weight on the third and fourth toes, and the hooves of large males reach about 31 by 23 cm.

Which of the following is considered a primary threat to giraffe populations in the wild?

Giraffe populations face significant threats from human activities, including habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, and poaching.

In 1758, Carl Linnaeus filed the giraffe under which existing genus?

His binomial was Cervus camelopardalis; the genus Giraffa only arrived four years later.

Who brought the first giraffe to Rome, in 46 BC?

Julius Caesar: the giraffe appeared in his 46 BC triumph alongside other exotic animals, and the Romans, seeing a camel's body with leopard spots, called it a camelopard.

The giraffe Zheng He brought to China in 1414 was linked to which mythical beast?

Qilin: courtiers hailed the East African giraffe presented to the Yongle Emperor in 1414 as the auspicious qilin of Chinese myth, and it was kept in the imperial menagerie.

The Medici giraffe, a 1480s gift to Lorenzo de' Medici, was sent by the sultan of where?

Egypt: the Mamluk sultan Qaitbay sent the giraffe in 1487, hoping for Florentine support against the Ottomans, so the animal was diplomacy on four legs.

How did the Medici giraffe die in Florence in January 1488?

Caught its head in barn rafters: the giraffe panicked, jerked back and broke her neck; Europe would not see another living giraffe until the 1820s, more than three centuries later.

Zarafa, the giraffe gifted to Charles X of France, walked to Paris from which port?

Marseille: after wintering there, Zarafa walked roughly 900 km to Paris in 1827 because officials feared a sea voyage around Iberia, wearing a two-part coat against the cold.

Which 55-year-old naturalist walked alongside Zarafa on her journey to Paris?

He also ordered her a warm coat and shoes; by the time she left Marseille she had grown 15 cm.

Besides Paris and London, which city received one of Muhammad Ali's 1827 gift giraffes?

Vienna: its giraffe reached Schönbrunn in 1828 and lived less than a year, but 'Giraffeln' pastries, giraffe cakes and a city-wide giraffe craze lived on.

How did Zarafa fit aboard the ship that carried her from Alexandria to France?

Neck through a hole cut in the deck: she stood in the hold with her head in the open air, while three cows sailed with her to supply about 25 litres of milk a day.

Giraffe Manor, the hotel where giraffes poke through breakfast windows, is in which city?

Nairobi: Giraffe Manor stands in the Langata suburb, built in 1932 and modelled on a Scottish hunting lodge, with a herd of Rothschild's giraffes roaming its grounds.

At the Giraffe Centre in Lang'ata, what is the main draw for visitors and school groups?

Feeding giraffes from a raised platform puts visitors eye to eye with them; the centre opened to tourists in 1983 and shares its grounds with free-roaming warthogs.

April the giraffe's 2017 birth livestream was sponsored by which retailer?

Toys "R" Us, whose mascot is a giraffe, sponsored the feed, which racked up some 232 million views; about 1.2 million people watched the calf arrive live in April 2017.

How did April's 2017 calf get the name Tajiri?

A public naming contest: Animal Adventure Park ran an online vote and Tajiri won; the male calf stood about 5.75 feet and weighed 129 pounds at birth.

April the giraffe lived at Animal Adventure Park in which U.S. state?

New York: Animal Adventure Park is in Harpursville, upstate; April was born at the Catskill Game Farm in 2000 and was euthanized in 2021 because of worsening arthritis.

Healthy young giraffe Marius was killed in 2014 amid global outcry at which city's zoo?

Copenhagen Zoo shot Marius in February 2014 and dissected him in front of visitors; his genes were judged over-represented in Europe's captive herd, and offers from other zoos were turned down.

Geoffrey the Giraffe, a toy-store mascot, was introduced in which year?

1965: Geoffrey replaced the chain's earlier cartoon mascot, Dr. G. Raffe, and in 2001 briefly became a realistic CGI giraffe voiced by Tom Hanks's brother Jim.

Melman, the hypochondriac giraffe in a DreamWorks animated film series, is voiced by whom?

David Schwimmer, Ross from Friends, voices Melman in the Madagascar films from 2005 on; Melman is a reticulated giraffe, the block-patterned type most often seen in zoos.

Which surrealist painted giraffes with burning manes?

Salvador Dalí saw the giraffe as a masculine symbol, and flaming giraffes recur in his paintings.

Who wrote the children's picture book Giraffes Can't Dance?

Giles Andreae wrote Giraffes Can't Dance (1999), illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees, about Gerald finding his own rhythm; Roald Dahl also starred a giraffe in The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me.

Who introduced Camelopardalis, the giraffe constellation, in 1612 or 1613?

Petrus Plancius, the Dutch cartographer, first drew Camelopardalis on a 1612–13 globe; it is the 18th-largest constellation yet has no star brighter than fourth magnitude.

The Tswana people of Botswana traditionally see which constellation as two giraffes?

Crux, the Southern Cross: in Tswana tradition Acrux and Mimosa form the male giraffe and Gacrux and Delta Crucis the female.

The giraffe is the national animal of which country?

Tanzania: the giraffe is its national animal and is protected by law there, so unauthorised killing can mean prison.

In 1985, how many giraffes were estimated to live in the wild?

155,000 in 1985: the estimate slipped to about 140,000 by 1999 and to roughly 97,500 by 2016, a fall of more than a third in three decades.

Which coat pattern marks out the Masai giraffe?

Jagged, leaf-like blotches, often likened to oak leaves or irregular stars, mark out the Masai giraffe, which is also the largest-bodied giraffe, with bulls nearing 1.3 tonnes.

The reticulated giraffe also goes by which common name?

Somali giraffe is the reticulated giraffe's other name; its liver-red, block-like patches show far less white between them than those of other giraffes.

Rothschild's giraffe is the only giraffe type born with how many ossicones?

Five: a pair on the crown, one median ossicone and one behind each ear, a count unique to Rothschild's giraffe.

Rothschild's giraffe has no markings below the knee, as if it were wearing what?

White stockings: the Rothschild's giraffe, also called the Baringo or Ugandan giraffe, carries no markings below the knee, leaving its lower legs plain cream.

The West African giraffe's last self-sustaining herd survives in which country?

Niger: the last wild West African giraffes live in the Kouré area south-east of Niamey; zoo animals once labelled West African have all proved to be Kordofan giraffes.

Zakouma National Park, stronghold of the Kordofan giraffe, is in which country?

Chad: Zakouma, in the country's south-east, holds the largest surviving Kordofan giraffe population, roughly a thousand animals after years of protection from poaching.

Thornicroft's giraffe lives only in the Luangwa Valley of which country?

Zambia: Thornicroft's giraffe is confined to the Luangwa Valley, where about 550 survive and none are kept in captivity; it was named for colonial commissioner Harry Scott Thornicroft.

The Angolan subspecies of Namibia and Botswana is also known by which nickname?

Smokey giraffe, or Namibian giraffe, is the Angolan giraffe's other name; it was returned to Angola's Iona National Park in 2023 after vanishing from the country decades earlier.

The giraffe's only living relative in its family was formally recognised in which year?

Sir Harry Johnston never saw one alive; the animal was identified from pieces of striped skin and a skull.

Samotherium, a giraffid with a mid-length neck, is named for which Greek island?

Its neck was intermediate between a giraffe's and an okapi's, but its rounded muzzle suggests it grazed grass.

Genome studies make the giraffe family sister to that of which North American animal?

Pronghorn: the giraffe family Giraffidae and the pronghorn's Antilocapridae together form the superfamily Giraffoidea, and genome studies date their split to more than 20 million years ago.

A giraffe's left recurrent laryngeal nerve, looping down the neck and back up, exceeds what?

Over 2 m: the nerve runs down the neck, loops under the aortic arch and climbs back to the larynx; the full nerve-cell path from brainstem to larynx approaches 5 m in the largest animals.

Darwin's explanation for the long neck is known as which hypothesis?

Competing browsers: Darwin argued the neck let giraffes feed above rival browsers, though a 2010 study found longer-necked adults died at higher rates in drought, since the neck costs more to maintain.

Lamarck used giraffes stretching for high leaves to illustrate which idea?

Acquired traits are inherited: Lamarck held that neck length gained by stretching passed to offspring, pairing the giraffe with a blacksmith whose hard-won arm strength would supposedly pass to his sons.

Roughly how much plant matter does a giraffe eat each day?

It needs less than many herbivores because its foliage is nutrient-dense and its digestion efficient; stressed giraffes even chew old bones.

With water available, a giraffe will go at most how many days without drinking?

Three: with water available, a giraffe drinks at intervals no longer than three days, although it draws much of its moisture from the foliage it eats.

Which birds pick ticks off giraffes and warn them of danger?

Oxpeckers: both red-billed and yellow-billed oxpeckers ride giraffes, picking off ticks, which favour the thin skin around the genitals, and raising the alarm at danger.

Giraffe skin has served as a model for protective suits worn by which professionals?

Pilots and astronauts: the tight skin of a giraffe's lower legs stops blood pooling there, the same problem that can make pilots black out, so it became a model for G-suits.

A giraffe's neck can reach up to what length?

Up to 2.4 m: the neck normally rests at 50 to 60 degrees, and its cervical vertebrae make up over half the length of the spine.

The Humr people of Kordofan brew the drink Umm Nyolokh from which giraffe parts?

Liver and bone marrow: the Humr drink is prepared from those two giraffe parts; drinkers report seeing giraffe ghosts, and one writer speculated the brew may contain DMT.

In Buganda, smoke from burning giraffe skin was traditionally used to treat what?

Nosebleeds: Buganda healers burned giraffe skin and used the smoke to stop them; tail hairs became flyswatters and bracelets, and tendons were strung on musical instruments.

At what time of day do giraffes appear to hum to one another?

Night: recordings in zoos caught giraffes humming to one another after dark; early biologists thought them mute, but they snort, hiss, grunt, moan and even make flute-like sounds.

The giraffe weevil, a beetle whose males sport an outsized neck, is endemic to where?

Madagascar: the giraffe weevil, Trachelophorus giraffa, lives only there; males use their long necks as clubs in sparring matches, swinging side to side like their namesake.

The reticulated giraffe's population stronghold is in which country?

Only around 8,500 remain in the wild, mostly in parks such as Samburu and Meru.