What is the name of the habitat of giraffes. Giraffe is the biggest heart in the world. Habitat of the giraffe

04.05.2020

In the African savannas scorched by the sun lives the tallest animal on the planet - the giraffe, whose distant ancestors appeared on Earth about 20 million years ago. Giraffes are known for their exceptionally long necks, but they got their name from their bright colors and the Arabic word "zarafa" which means "smart".

Giraffe in the savannah.

How tall is a giraffe and how much does the tallest mammal in the world weigh? Why does the giraffe have such a long neck? What does a giraffe eat in the African savannas? How do giraffes sleep and what are their enemies? The answers to these questions may be of interest to both children and adults.

Where does the giraffe live: range today and millions of years ago

During the time of the dinosaurs, giraffes were highly diverse and lived throughout Africa, as well as in the territories of modern Europe and Asia. About 2 million years ago, during a period of sharp cooling, most species died out. The only giraffe as we know it today and more like a zebra okapi managed to survive. Together, these two animals form the giraffe family.

The modern classification includes 9 subspecies of giraffes, which differ in distribution area and pattern. The pattern on the skin of each giraffe is unique, like human fingerprints. Of particular interest is the pattern of the reticulated giraffe, formed by dark polygonal spots framed by narrow white stripes, which makes it seem that the body of the animal is covered with a net.

Rare, endangered subspecies include:

the Nubian giraffe, with a population of less than a thousand individuals, has remained in eastern South Sudan and southwestern Ethiopia;
the West African giraffe is practically extinct, no more than 200 specimens are found only in Niger;
giraffe kordofan is an extremely small subspecies that lives in the Central African Republic and western Sudan;
Ugandan giraffe, also known as the Rothschild giraffe, has no more than 700 animals preserved in Uganda and Kenya.

The remaining subspecies are vulnerable, and their total number is about 100 - 150 thousand individuals:

the South African giraffe is the most numerous subspecies, whose range covers the savannas of Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe;
Thornycroft's giraffe lives in Zambia;
the Angolan giraffe lives in Botswana and Namibia;
the Masai giraffe is found in Tanzania and Kenya;
the reticulated giraffe is common in southern Somalia and northern Kenya.

The extinction of modern giraffes is solely the merit of a man who began to exterminate animals in antiquity. At first they were killed for beautiful skins and edible meat, in the 20th century hunting for the tallest mammals became a popular pastime.

Giraffe language.

Giant stature and that amazing neck

Giraffe cubs are born quite tall, their average height is about 1.8 m with a body weight of 50 kg. Females give birth standing up, and despite falling from a height of 2 meters, the giraffe gets to its feet in an hour and starts running on its first birthday.

Giraffes reach gigantic growth by the age of 6: adult males grow up to 5.5 - 6.1 m with a body weight of 900 to 1200 kg. A third of the length of the animals is the neck, but giraffes were not always like this. Their ancient ancestors had the same massive build, but their necks were much shorter. After the global extinction, the only giraffe left on earth began to lengthen its neck as a tool to survive in the face of fierce competition for food. After all, the foliage of trees - what the giraffe eats, grows high above the ground, out of reach of other animals.

According to another version, the long necks of modern giraffes are the result of ritual fights between males for a female, when rivals beat their heads into each other's necks. A longer-necked male always wins, becomes interesting to females and, accordingly, produces longer-necked offspring, who have every chance of providing themselves with a full diet.

Giraffe at the waterhole.

What does a giraffe eat

Dry African savannahs do not have a variety of flora, but the main food source of giraffes grows there - the Nile acacia, a tree-like shrub, up to 6 m high. The long branches of the plant are densely strewn with feathery leaves and hooked thorns, but this does not prevent giraffes from safely eating their favorite food in large quantities .

To get enough, an adult giraffe needs up to 30 kg of green mass per day, and succulent leaves fully satisfy the needs of animals for food and water. The giraffe stretches out a muscular tongue, up to 45 cm long, deftly grabs a branch with it and plucks the leaves, moving its head back. Wherein special structure mouthparts allow you to eat on thorny branches completely painlessly. And only in starvation do giraffes have to bend low and pluck the grass.

Giraffe with a cub.

Giraffes rarely drink, once every few weeks, but they drink about 38 liters of water at once. At a watering place, animals spread their legs wide and lower their heads low, but they begin to drink only when they are convinced of their safety. Even lions and leopards do not seek to attack adult giraffes, deadly blows of the front hooves easily blow the head of each enemy. However, up to 50% of young individuals become victims of predators, although females protect offspring for up to a year and a half.

Giraffes are vulnerable at a watering hole and during sleep, when they rest standing or lying down, putting their bent neck on their croup. To sleep, these amazing animals have enough from 10 minutes to 2 hours a day, and the rest of the time giraffes wander leisurely in search of their favorite acacia.

In the African savannas, a giraffe can live up to 25 years; in zoos, the life of animals increases by another 10 years.

Many people are interested in what kind of animal the giraffe is and where it lives, what it eats and how it reproduces. In this article, our team will talk in detail about this animal.

Appearance

This species of mammals is the tallest living on the planet. the globe. Like many other representatives of artiodactyls, the male is larger than the female.

Its growth is from 5-5 to 6-2 meters, and females from 4-6 to 5-8, respectively. You also need to pay attention to the fact that his growth is greatly increased by his neck, which is 1.3 times the length of the entire body of a giraffe. Its weight is from 925-1250 kg.

A few more words about the neck of our giant; in practice, we have always observed seven cervical vertebrae in most individuals of this species. It would seem nothing special, if not for one thing, but! The giraffe also has seven of them, but given the length of its neck, it makes one wonder how this is possible.

We have one explanation, nature has foreseen everything in advance. Plus, the body of the giraffe has undergone a strong genetic change in its time. There is an opinion among scientists that it stretched out due to the fact that the animals fought with their necks with each other.

The circulatory system and its features

The size of the animal gives a lot of trouble circulatory system mammal and his heart. The whole point is to supply the brain with oxygen, you need to overcome a significant distance of the blood substance through the vessels.

Personally, it was a surprise for us when we learned that in one minute the heart of an African giraffe pumps over 60 liters of blood. To put it mildly, not a very modest amount, especially if you imagine that these are 6 buckets of liquid that are filled to capacity.

His heart is strong and weighs more than 11 kilograms, it is able to create pressure several times greater than that of a person.

However, even such powerful characteristics of the heart would not be able to cope with the load if the animal abruptly lowered and raised its head. Therefore, nature has provided for this, so that it does not die from a hemorrhage in the brain, the blood of a giraffe has the most dense form with a significant number of blood cells in it.

And that's not all, in that case, the giant has valves in the large cervical artery that can lock up and block the sharp pressure of blood rushing to the brain.

It's curious

The size of the giraffe's tongue can surprise any person, with a length of more than 46 cm, which he can release outside. Its color is black, has a muscular structure and can easily break acacia branches.

The upper part of the body is covered with patterns in the form of reddish spots, which for each representative have an individual location and shape, similar to human fingerprints.

The underside is spotless and slightly lighter. At the very top of the head are two horns with blunt ends, and on the forehead there is a bony convex plate, which may also resemble a third horn. The eyes are black, bordered in long and thick eyelashes, the auditory shells are short.

It should be noted that our hero has excellent vision, smell and hearing. A potential threat to his life and health can be detected 1 kilometer away and have time to leave the dangerous place.

Animals of Africa, the giraffe can reach speeds over short distances up to 57 km / h, thereby gradually turning into a gallop. This means that he is able to overtake a professional racehorse participating in international races. Animals, because of their thin legs and heavy weight, are not able to walk in marshy places, and rivers are not at all surmountable obstacles for them.

An interesting note is the fact that, having such a body weight and height, he can jump over obstacles over 1 meter and 90 centimeters in height.

Habitat

To date, giraffes are widely distributed in the southern and east-south parts of the Sahara desert. These places are considered to be:

East Africa;
South Africa;

In the northern part of the desert, the population was completely exterminated by mankind in ancient times. During ancient Egypt, they were common in the delta along the Nile River and on the coast. mediterranean sea. In the twentieth century, their range again declined. The most saturated places where you can meet the spotted giant are reserves and reserves.

Food

Animals prefer only plant foods, especially he loves to eat acacia leaves. The giraffe is the tallest animal and due to its growth, it deftly extends its long tongue, embraces the branch and throws its head back, thereby emptying the branch from the leaves. On the day he can eat up to 30 kilograms of vegetation.

It receives water from plants and can go without water for several weeks. If he still wants to drink enough, he is forced to spread his legs wide so that his head can touch the base of the reservoir. In one sitting, he is able to drink up to 40 liters of water. But the animal at this time is very vulnerable and he is engaged in this procedure when he is convinced that he is not in danger.

Lifestyle

African giants can lead a solitary, flocking lifestyle that does not tie them to each other. They can travel up to 100 kilometers in search of food. Females prefer to live from 4 to 35 individuals in a herd. They have no leaders, there are only elders who have some weight among the younger generation.

You can also observe a young giraffe that roams with the herd:

So he feels safe. Because, when two tall males meet, it almost always leads to a fight. If a fight cannot be avoided, then two opponents are placed on top of each other and try to headbutt the opponent's neck.

It is noteworthy, but true - after the defeat, the opponent does not drive the loser out of the herd, as other types of social networks do.

He sleeps from ten minutes to 2 hours a day. They can sleep standing up and lying down. Interestingly, no one has yet been able to fix a natural posture during sleep.

reproduction

A wild giraffe animal during the mating season behaves extremely aggressively towards other males. As a result, a physical conflict occurs, in which a weak opponent can receive injuries incompatible with life.

The most dangerous blow that can cause injury is a blow with both legs from top to bottom. This can be compared to chopping wood when an ax in the hands of a person flies on a stump. There are several animals that will lure a similar tactic:

Moose;
Roe deer;
deer;

Many people naively believe that the giraffe has no voice, but I have to disappoint such people. Animals can talk among themselves, making sounds at a certain frequency from 20 Hz.

Animals mate from July to September. The female carries the fetus for 13 to 15 months. Litter 1 rarely has 2 two cubs. The most severe test for the fetus is the flight from 2 meters high after birth.

Its height is up to 2 meters in height, and its weight does not exceed 55 kg. It will take a little time, about three hours, and he will stand firmly on his feet. Then it starts to frolic, and it will fall into the herd after three weeks. She will stay with her mother until she is one and a half years old.

Lifespan

On average, an animal giraffe lives on earth for no more than 30 years. But there were individuals who could live longer. Mostly these centenarians who live in zoos or special areas.

The giraffe is big - he knows better. V. Vysotsky.

Animal giraffe is one of the most colorful representatives of the animal world of our planet. If only because the giraffe is the longest and tallest animal on Earth, there is no one above it. Moreover, a third of the growth of a giraffe falls on its neck, to be sure, the neck of a giraffe is the longest in the world. About what habits giraffes have, how they live, sleep and eat (and given their length, this is another task) read on.

Giraffe: description, structure, characteristics. What does a giraffe look like?

According to the zoological classification, giraffes belong to the order of ruminant artiodactyls, the giraffe family.

If a giraffe is the tallest animal in the world, then how tall is a giraffe? The growth (or height) of the giraffe is 5.5-6.1 meters, a third of the growth is its long neck. The weight of a giraffe can vary from 500 to 1900 kg, the heart alone weighs 12 kg, which is not surprising, because in order to drive blood to such a height, you need a really big and strong heart. The heart of a giraffe drives 60 liters of blood per minute, and inside the vessels in giraffes three times more than in humans. By the way, with such high pressure as that of a giraffe, a person could die even from a sharp lowering or raising of his head - there would be a very big overload. Fortunately, nature protected giraffes from such a danger, the fact is that the giraffe's blood is so thick and dense that even a sharp change in the position of the animal's head does not worsen its condition.

The giraffe's long neck is made up of seven cervical vertebrae, each 25 cm long. The main jugular vein has special shut-off valves that are responsible for uniform blood supply with the same pressure.

A very interesting language of the giraffe - it is dark, almost brown in color, and also long and very muscular. Having the ability to protrude to a length of up to 40-45 cm, it grabs tree branches at a height without any problems. And with the help of its long tongue, the giraffe can even clean its ears. However, the giraffe's tongue is not as long as that of the tongue of that beast on the ground.

The signature color of the giraffe deserves special mention, did you know that the pattern of spots on the skin of giraffes is unique for each individual and never repeats? (Like human fingerprints). It was this unusual color of the giraffe that gave it its name: in 1758, the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus included the giraffe in his animal classification under Latin name“Giraffa camelopardalis”, which means “smart leopard camel”, and the word “Giraffa”, which gave the name, means “smart”.

The giraffe's head also has interesting view, on top it is decorated with a pair of horns covered with wool. The large eyes of the giraffe have long eyelashes, and a pair of ears are located on the sides of the head like two antennae.

It is worth noting that all giraffes have excellent eyesight, hearing and smell, they are able to notice their relatives from long distances, and their sensitive hearing, as well as their sense of smell, quickly catch the danger. For this reason, many other herbivores in Africa: zebras, antelopes, buffaloes, ostriches often graze next to giraffes - it is safer with them, as these long giants recognize danger faster.

The legs of a giraffe, although somewhat thin in relation to the rest of their body size, nevertheless, they are able to run and jump perfectly - the speed of a running giraffe can reach up to 60 km per hour. Their only drawback is that giraffes can only move on a solid surface: giraffes avoid rivers and swamps, as they would get stuck very quickly in swampy areas.

The female and male giraffe have the same body structure, the only thing is that females are usually slightly shorter than males.

How long do giraffes live in nature and the zoo?

The life expectancy of giraffes is on average 20-30 years. At the same time, giraffes living in zoos live a little longer than their relatives walking on the African savannah.

Where do giraffes live?

AT natural conditions Giraffes live exclusively in Africa. In fact, they are one of the visiting cards of this continent. As for Africa, you can meet giraffes both in its northern part, near the Sahara desert, and in South Africa. Many giraffes live in national parks East Africa, in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and other African countries.

What does a giraffe eat?

Giraffes are peaceful herbivores, the main source of their food is a variety of tree leaves and branches of young shrubs. Giraffes have a four-chambered stomach, fully adapted to plant foods, this stomach perfectly digests tough leaves and branches of shrubs.

Juicy acacia, as well as mimosa and sweet shoots of wild apricots, are the favorite treats of giraffes. Although they also eat the leaves of many other trees. Every day, an adult giraffe eats about 30 kg of food. The giraffe spends almost all his time eating and searching for food: 16-20 hours a day, the rest of the time he sleeps. We will write about the dream of a giraffe separately in the next paragraph.

Eating succulent leaves, giraffes can do without water for a long time, but they still need it. Arriving at a watering hole, the giraffe spreads its front legs wide to lower its head to the water (in this position it is most vulnerable to predators). Typically, a giraffe drinks up to 38 liters of water at a time.

How do giraffes sleep?

Given the size and body structure of this animal, sleeping for a giraffe is not such an easy task. Some giraffes can even sleep standing up, leaning on some kind of tall tree. But more often a sleeping giraffe bends its long legs under itself, taking one of them to the side, and bending into a ball, puts its head on its croup.

This is what a sleeping giraffe looks like.

Usually giraffes sleep about 2 hours a day, this is enough time for them to sleep.

giraffe enemies

Of course, in the African shroud, the giraffe also has natural enemies, these are dangerous predators there: lions, cheetahs, leopards, hyenas. However, adult giraffes have a significant argument as a means of protection - strong legs, a powerful blow with which can for a long time discourage any lion from eating a giraffe. Knowing about this feature of the giraffe, predators may try to catch him by surprise at a watering hole or during sleep. When hunting for a giraffe, the main thing for a predator is to gnaw through the neck of a giraffe as quickly as possible and at the same time not fall under the deadly blow of his legs.

But cubs of giraffes can relatively easily become the prey of African predators, so they are often under the protection and care of their mothers.

giraffe lifestyle

Giraffes are herd animals, and usually gather in small herds of 4 to 30 individuals. At the same time, the composition of the herd can constantly change. Often other animals adjoin herds of giraffes: zebras, antelopes, ostriches. They do this for a reason, giraffes, having developed vision and hearing, are able to quickly notice the danger. As Vysotsky sang "Giraffe big - he knows best." He really knows better to notice lions or hyenas sneaking in the thickets, and seeing the reaction of giraffes, other animals grazing with them also quickly begin to retreat from the impending danger.

There are no leaders in the herd of giraffes, but older individuals are still highly respected. Also in the herd there is usually an equal number of males and females. At the same time, during the mating season between males sometimes there are real jousting fights for the possession of a female.

The rest of the time, giraffes are friendly to each other, as well as to other herbivores, and even a defeated male after a duel is not expelled from the herd, as is the case with other animals.

Types of giraffes, photos and names

Zoologists distinguish 9 subspecies of giraffes, depending on their place of residence and color. Let's describe some of them.

Lives in eastern Sudan and Ethiopia. It has characteristic chestnut spots with rich white lines. Males also have an impressive bone outgrowth on the frontal part of the skull.

He is a Rothschild giraffe. It lives in the East African country of Uganda. It has beautiful black spots separated by wide white stripes.

He is also a Somali giraffe, as he lives in Somalia and in the north of neighboring Kenya. The females of this giraffe often lack the outgrowth on their skull. Its body is covered with a grid of juicy red-brown spots of medium size.

This giraffe, in addition to Angola proper, also lives in some other countries of West Africa: Namibia, Botswana. It has large brown spots with elongated corners.

This giraffe lives in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It has a golden skin, decorated with dark rounded spots.

Giraffe breeding

Giraffes are polygamous animals. Usually a strong male has a small harem of several females with whom he periodically mates. However, such a male may have connections on the side. As we wrote above, sometimes there are cases when two males claim one female, and then a fight occurs between them. This is the only time that normally peaceful giraffes fight each other.

The pregnancy of a female giraffe lasts 14-15 months, after which a small giraffe is born. Only one cub is always born at a time, in very rare cases twins may appear. Interestingly, female giraffes give birth standing up, and the cub falls from a height of two meters during childbirth.

A small newborn giraffe is actually not so small, from the moment of birth it weighs as much as 100 kg and has a height of 1.5 meters. Within 15 minutes after birth, he gets to his feet and begins to walk. Also, a baby giraffe does not have horns on its head, they will appear only with age.

Little giraffes are desirable prey for a variety of predators, so the first 4 years of their lives are under the protection of their mother, or to be precise, mothers. The fact is that in a herd of giraffes all cubs are, as it were, common, and one female can leave for some time, leaving the care of her cub to another female, who will take care of him, as well as her own baby.

Giraffes become sexually mature at 3-4 years old, at the same time the cubs are separated from their mothers and begin to live the life of an adult giraffe.

Giraffes are able to communicate with each other using their voices. However, we do not hear this at all, the fact is that the human ear simply does not perceive the communication of giraffes that occurs at a frequency below 20 Hz.
Giraffes do not move like all other animals, they are pacers, that is, they simultaneously shift two right legs (front and back), then two left ones, and so on.
Sometimes some giraffes have as many as five mini horns on their heads: two large ones in front and one very small + two horns on the back of their heads.

giraffe video

The giraffe is the second tallest (after the elephant) African animal with a unique color and a unique shape of spots, which can easily do without water longer than a camel. Giraffes live mainly in savannahs, open steppes with a small number of trees and shrubs, the leaves and branches of which are eaten.

Giraffes are incredibly peaceful creatures that live in small herds of no more than 12-15 individuals. Each handsome spotted loves other members of his herd and respects the leader, which is why animals almost always manage to avoid any skirmishes and conflicts.

If a fight is inevitable, giraffes arrange bloodless duels, during which rivals come close to each other and fight with their necks. Such a fight (mainly between males) lasts no more than 15 minutes, after which the defeated retreats and continues to live in the herd as an ordinary member. Males and females also selflessly protect the offspring of their herd, especially the parents, who without much thought ready to pounce on a pack of hyenas or lions if they threaten the lives of babies.

In nature, the only animal dangerous to the giraffe is the lion, and the only relative is the okapi, since all other giraffes are considered extinct.

The uniqueness of the behavior and physiology of giraffes

Of all mammals, the giraffe is the owner of the longest tongue (50 cm), which helps to absorb up to 35 kg of plant food daily. With a black or dark purple tongue, the animal can also clean its ears.

Giraffes have very sharp eyesight, and their huge growth additionally allows them to notice danger at a very long distance. Another African animal is unique in that he has the biggest heart(up to 60 cm long and weighing up to 11 kg) among all mammals and the highest blood pressure. The giraffe differs from other animals in the size of the step, because the length of the legs of an adult is 6-8 meters, which allows it to reach speeds of up to 60 km / h.

Giraffe cubs are no less unique - an hour after the birth, the babies are already quite firmly on their feet. At birth, the height of the cub is approximately 1.5 m, and the weight is about 100 kg. 7-10 days after the birth, the baby begins to form small horns that were previously depressed. The mother looks for other females with newborns nearby, after which they arrange for their offspring some kind of kindergarten. At this time, the kids are in danger, because each parent relies on the vigilance of other females, and cubs often become prey to predators. For this reason, only a quarter of the offspring usually survive to a year.

Giraffes only sometimes sleep lying down - most of the time the animals spend in an upright position, put their heads between the branches of trees, which almost completely eliminates the possibility of falling, and sleep standing up.

Curious facts about giraffes

Other "giraffes"

The constellation Giraffe (derived from the Latin "Camelopardalis") is a circumpolar constellation that it is best to observe on the territory of the CIS countries from November to January.
The Giraffe piano (derived from the German "Giraffenklavier") is one of the varieties of vertical piano beginning of the XIX century, getting its name due to the silhouette, reminiscent of the animal of the same name.

The giraffe is a surprisingly intelligent animal with unique habits that are characteristic only of him. Peacefulness, meek disposition and funny appearance These animals will not leave anyone indifferent.

GIRAFFE (Giraffa cameleopardalis) This animal is found almost throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The appearance of the giraffe is so peculiar that it cannot be confused with any other animal: a relatively small head on a disproportionately long neck, a sloping back, and long legs. The giraffe is the tallest living mammal: its height from the ground to the forehead reaches 4.8-5.8 m. The mass of an adult male is about 750 kg, females are somewhat lighter.

The eyes of the giraffe are black, bordered by thick eyelashes, the ears are short and narrow. Both males and females have small horns on their foreheads. The horns are covered with wool, sometimes there is only one pair, but sometimes there are two. In addition, often in the middle of the forehead there is a special bone outgrowth, resembling an additional (unpaired) horn. The coloration of the giraffe varies greatly, and in the past, zoologists even identified several species of giraffes on this basis. Differently colored giraffes can interbreed. In addition, even in the same place, in the same herd, there are significant individual color deviations. They say that it is generally impossible to find two absolutely identically colored giraffes: the spotted pattern is unique, like a fingerprint. Therefore, color variations can only be taken with a certain stretch for subspecies.

The most famous is the so-called massai giraffe that inhabits the savannas. East Africa. The main background of its color is yellowish-red, over this background chocolate-brown irregularly shaped spots are scattered in disorder. Another type of coloration is the reticulated giraffe, which is found in the woodlands of Somalia and Northern Kenya. In the reticulated giraffe, the spots in the form of polygons almost merge and the background yellow color is only rare stripes, as if a golden net is thrown over the animal. These are the most beautiful giraffes.

Young animals are always lighter in color than old ones. White giraffes are exceptionally rare. They have dark eyes, and albinos (in the strict sense of the word) cannot be called them. Such animals are found in various parts of Africa - in the Garamba National Park (Congo), in Kenya, in Northern Tanzania. The seemingly overly bright motley coloration of giraffes actually perfectly camouflages animals. When several giraffes stand in a group of umbrella acacias, among the burnt bushes of the African bush, under the sheer rays of the sun, the mosaic of shadows and sunspots, as it were, dissolves, eats up the contours of animals. At first, you suddenly notice with surprise that one of the trunks is not a trunk at all, but the neck of a giraffe. Behind it, as on a developing photographic plate, a second, third, fourth suddenly appears.

Savannahs and sparse dry forests are favorite habitats for giraffes. Here animals find abundant food in the form of young shoots and buds of umbrella acacias, mimosas and other trees. With the help of a long tongue, a giraffe can pluck leaves even from branches densely covered with large thorns. Giraffes rarely eat grassy vegetation: in order to graze, the animal has to spread its front legs wide or even kneel down. Giraffes are forced to take the same uncomfortable position at a watering hole. True, this happens infrequently, since giraffes satisfy their need for water mainly due to succulent food and go without a watering place for several weeks. Giraffes rarely live alone. Usually they form small herds (7-12 individuals each), although sometimes up to 50-70 animals gather.

Only old males are alienated by fellow tribesmen. Often a group of giraffes unites with antelopes, zebras, ostriches, but this connection is short-lived and unstable. Within a herd of giraffes, there is a strict hierarchy of subordination, as is well known for many other herd animals. The external expression of such a hierarchy is that the lowest in rank cannot cross the road of the highest. The latter, in turn, holds his neck and head higher, while the lower in rank always lowers his neck somewhat in his presence. However, giraffes are peaceful animals, and rivalry among them almost never manifests itself in the form of a fight. Well, if there is still a need to find out the seniority in the herd, a kind of duel takes place between the largest males. It begins with a challenge: the applicant for the highest rank goes to the enemy with an arched neck and lowered head, threatening him with horns. These, in general, harmless horns, together with a heavy head, constitute the main weapon of the giraffe in the struggle for superiority. If the enemy does not retreat and accepts the challenge, the animals become shoulder to shoulder almost close and exchange head and neck blows.

Giraffes never use heavy weapons against their fellow tribesmen - a kick with the front leg, which has exceptional strength. Sometimes wrestling giraffes move slowly around the tree, trying to pin each other to the trunk. The duel can last up to a quarter of an hour and arouses the keen interest of the entire herd. But it is enough for the one who recognizes himself defeated to take a few steps to the side, as the aggressive mood changes in the winner: he never drives the opponent out of the herd, as is the case with horses, antelopes and other herd animals. At first glance, outwardly awkward, giraffes are actually perfectly adapted to life in the savannah: they see far and hear perfectly. Interestingly, no one has yet heard the voices of giraffes. Giraffes usually move in steps, like pacers (both right legs are in motion at the same time, then both left ones, etc.). Only in case of emergency, giraffes switch to an awkward, as if slowed down gallop, but they do not maintain this gait for long, no more than 2-3 minutes.

The gallop of giraffes is very peculiar: the animal can simultaneously tear off both front legs from the ground, only by throwing its neck and head far back and thus shifting the center of gravity. Therefore, a galloping giraffe constantly nods deeply, as it were, bows with each jump. This seemingly clumsy manner of galloping does not prevent him from reaching speeds of up to 50 km / h. Giraffes can also jump. They show such abilities by jumping over barbed wire fences that enclose plantations and sheep pastures in Africa. To the surprise of the farmers, the animals learned to overcome barriers up to 1.85 m high. Approaching the fence, the giraffe throws back its neck, throws its front legs over it, and then jumps with its hind legs, only slightly touching the top row of wire. But they are not used to electric wires and often arrange a short circuit, dying themselves at the same time.

Water barriers, apparently, create great difficulties for giraffes, although the zoologist Sheriner once saw three giraffes swim across an arm of the Nile in South Sudan: only heads and necks were visible from the water, two-thirds submerged in water. Giraffes are diurnal animals. They usually feed in the morning and in the afternoon, and spend the hottest hours half asleep, standing in the shade of acacia trees. At this time, giraffes chew gum, their eyes are half-closed, but their ears are in constant motion. A real dream for giraffes at night. Then they lie on the ground, tucking their front legs and one of their hind legs under them, and put their head on the other hind leg, stretched to the side. At the same time, the long neck turns out to be curved back like an arch. This sleep is often interrupted, the animals get up, then lie down again.

The total duration of complete deep sleep in adult animals is amazingly small: it does not exceed 20 minutes per night! The rut period for giraffes begins in July and lasts about two months. Pregnancy lasts 420-450 days, and a newborn giraffe has a mass of up to 70 kg with a height of 1.7-2 m. During childbirth, the female does not lie down on the ground; the herd surrounds it in a tight ring, protecting it from possible danger, and then welcomes the new member with gentle touches of noses. Giraffes have few natural enemies. Of the predators, only lions attack them, and even then relatively rarely. A pride of lions easily copes even with a large male giraffe and then feasts on prey for several days. But from a single predator, the giraffe successfully defends itself with blows from its front legs. Usually the lion jumps on the back of the giraffe and bites through his neck vertebrae. A case is known when a lion missed when jumping and was met with a powerful blow of hooves to the chest. The observer (an employee of one of the national parks), seeing that the lion did not rise after the fall, came closer and, after waiting more than an hour, shot the crippled beast.

The chest of the lion was crushed and almost all the ribs were broken. Sometimes giraffes - die while feeding, entangled head in the branches of trees. Sometimes childbirth takes a tragic turn. But the main enemy of giraffes was, and even now there is still a man. True, in our time, giraffes are hunted little. The first white settlers massacred giraffes for the sake of skins, from which they made leather for the top of Boer carts, belts and whips. Africans make shields from skins, strings for musical instruments from tendons, and bracelets are woven from the hair of the tail tassels (like elephant hair bracelets). Giraffe meat is edible. Vigorous persecution by man has led to the fact that now giraffes are preserved in large numbers only in national parks and reserves. Giraffes have been kept in zoos for a long time. Even the Egyptians (about 1500 BC) and the Romans (during the time of Caesar) kept giraffes in menageries and bestiaries. The first giraffes in London, Paris and Berlin appeared in the 20s of the XIX century, and they were carried on sailing ships and led through Europe on foot. Now giraffes are kept in almost all major zoos in the world and breed well in captivity. The life span of these animals is more than 20 years (the record is 28 years).

Their diet consists of hay, apples, radishes, onions, carrots, and occasionally bananas. In summer, giraffes add fresh branches to this. deciduous trees, and in winter - sprouted oats and brooms prepared since summer. For a long time, the giraffe was a mystery to physiologists. Indeed, while feeding in the crowns of trees, the head of a giraffe is at a height of almost 7 m. Blood from the heart to the brain must be transported to the same height. The pressure required for this, created by the heart, is 300 mm Hg. Art. If a giraffe lowers its head and then raises it sharply, a sharp pressure drop is created in the brain, and the blood from the neck vein overloads the heart. With human standards, you can’t approach such overloads! The answer to the question was found by the zoologist Getz from Cape Town. The giraffe has thicker blood than other mammals. Compared to humans, giraffes have twice the amount of red blood cells.

The heart of a giraffe passes about 60 l (!) of blood per minute. With the help of an electrical probe inserted into the giraffe's cervical artery to the very base of the brain, Getz found that when the head is raised, the blood pressure is 200 mm Hg, and when it is sharply lowered, contrary to logic, it drops to only 175 mm Hg. Art. The solution to the mystery lay in special shut-off valves in the great jugular vein. These valves can interrupt the flow of blood so that the pressure in the main artery remains elevated, even if the pressure in other, smaller arteries (also with valves) drops sharply. The powerful jugular vein functions as a blood depot, equalizing the pressure in the brain.

This is how giraffes escape from predators.

Well, joke, joke..

The giraffe and the okapi (Okapia johnstoni) are the only living members of the giraffe family (Giraffidae). It appeared in Central Asia in the early or middle Miocene, i.e. about 15 million years ago, and spread from there to the territory of Europe and Africa. The oldest remains of the modern giraffe were found in Israel and Africa and date back to the early Pleistocene, i.e. their age is approx. 1.5 million years. The range of the modern giraffe has greatly decreased as a result of human hunting and anthropogenic environmental changes. The species was found in northern Africa (in Morocco) 1400 years ago, and in many areas in the west and south of the continent it was exterminated only in the last century. There are usually nine geographical races, or subspecies, distributed from Mali in the west to Somalia in the east and South Africa in the south.

interesting facts about giraffes:

* The giraffe has 7 cervical vertebrae, like other mammals (only they are much larger). Moreover, the neck of the animal weighs 250 kg.

* An adult giraffe weighs 1-2 tons, females are on average twice as light.

* Male giraffes often sort things out with the help of arm wrestling, but not with their hands, but with their necks.

* Man has revered these animals since ancient times. Images of giraffes found in ancient African settlements and on Egyptian art

* The blood vessels located in the giraffe's neck are extremely elastic and resilient. This is “done” so that the giraffe can tilt its head to the ground, for example, to drink water, and at the same time not lose consciousness from a deterioration in blood supply.

* There are several types of giraffes: Kordofan, Angolan, southern, Nigerian, Masai and others.

* Giraffe cubs in the first 3-5 months of life huddle in flocks, called nurseries, for joint games. Their mothers, meanwhile, are grazing nearby.

* The giraffe's tongue is about 45 cm long.

* Giraffes live in African savannah and in acacia thickets in the south of the Sahara desert.

* The giraffe is one of the few animals that primarily uses its front legs when running.

* Giraffe heart weighs more than 10 kg.

* The step of the giraffe is over 4 meters. When he walks calmly, you will have to run to keep up.

* Giraffes have a relative - an animal called okapi. It has a much shorter neck, it is found in the forests of the Congo and is not a herd animal, but an independent animal.

* Newborn giraffe babies begin their lives by falling from a height of 2 meters

* Despite the fact that most of the time giraffes do not make sounds, their cubs moo and bleat, males growl during fights, it has also been noticed that they sometimes snore, moan, hiss and make sounds similar to the sounds of a flute.

* Herds of giraffes do not have a clear organization and hierarchy. They can contain animals of both sexes and all ages, access to outsiders is open.

* Males and females eat leaves from different parts of the tree to avoid fighting for food.

* A giraffe lives an average of 20-25 years.

* The scientific name of the giraffe is camelopardalis. It comes from the Latin cameleopard (camel + leopard). Such a name in Ancient Rome they were given because the animals were as big as a camel and with spots like those of a leopard. Besides, they can long time go without water like camels.

* Giraffe cubs already have horns at birth.

* The giraffe's sleep time is no more than 10 minutes, and he spends almost his entire life standing up.

* A giraffe can run at speeds up to 50 km/h.

* The spots on a giraffe's skin are as unique as human fingerprints.

* A female giraffe carries a cub for 14 months.

* In one sitting, a giraffe can drink up to 6 buckets of water.

* Giraffe is the tallest animal in the world.

* These animals have good eyesight, which, together with their high growth, allows them to see far. Giraffes can be up to a kilometer away and still belong to the same herd.

* Giraffa in the language of the natives means "fast-moving".

And this giraffe just came from McDonald's:

One of the first giraffes in the zoo appeared in France in 1826. He traveled 860 kilometers from Marseille to Paris in 41 days, accompanied by a detachment of mounted gendarmes. In Paris, the animal made a splash. From July to December 1827, 600 thousand people came to the zoo to look at the giraffe. There were hairstyles "a la giraffe" and a lot of all kinds of items with giraffe symbols. Even the piano, invented in 1819, was renamed the giraffiano. But this name did not stick. In Russia, the first giraffe was demonstrated in 1878 in St. Petersburg. Now we have the most famous family of giraffes in the world.

Its ancestors, Boy and Juliet, who came to Leningrad from Southern Rhodesia, lived 29 and 29.5 years, setting a record for the life expectancy of giraffes. This couple had 13 cubs - this is also a record. Then their daughters began to bear offspring. And in total, 34 giraffes saw the light in our zoo. By the way, giraffes bear a cub for a very long time - as many as fourteen months. But they are also born big. The average height of our giraffes is 1m 61cm, and their weight is 50-60 kg. And this is at birth.

We try to give giraffes "Leningrad" names. We lived with the Neva, Ladoga, Okhta, Onega, Aurora, Peter, Oreshek. There was one female with a strange name - Element. Now she lives in Kyiv, and she got her name because she was born on the night of a very strong flood in the fall of 1975.

And since the autumn of 1996, our giraffe Ida has been living in the Kaliningrad Zoo. It is named after the head of the ungulate sector of our zoo, Ida Dmitrievna Rozhdestvenskaya, who worked with us for about 40 years and adopted almost all the born giraffes