When it comes to alluring African animals, giraffes are – quite literally – head and shoulders above the rest. With their slender necks and long black tongues, these curious creatures appear to be plucked straight from a child’s imagination. And while their appearance is striking enough, facts about giraffes only further enhance this wonder of nature. From aiding space exploration to having a bumpy birth, read on to discover our top ten giraffe facts.
- Tallest mammals
- Sleepless nights
- Fast runners
- Drinking dangers
- Tactile tongues
- Unique spots
- Space exploration
- Secret sounds
- ‘Horns’
- Silent extinction
Tallest mammals
It’s no secret that giraffes are tall. Their spindly legs and slender necks allow them to reach heights greater than any other mammal on the planet – but how do humans stand in comparison? If you were to stack three people on each other’s shoulders, only then (at a whopping 14-18ft tall) would we see eye to eye with a giraffe. Even newborns outshine us. After falling six feet to the ground at birth (ouch) they find their feet within an hour, and when they do, they stand as tall as the average man.
Image by Olivier Romano.
Sleepless nights
When you’re so far from the ground, getting down (and back up again) is a formidable task. And for passing predators, there’s nothing more tempting than a giraffe struggling to stand. So, to avoid being a lion’s next meal, giraffes sacrifice sleep for safety and spend most of their lives standing up. They nap for as little as 30 minutes a day, rarely longer than five minutes at a time. It’s also not unusual for them to sleep standing up, with one eye open and both ears moving. Exhausting.
Fast runners
A giraffe’s anti-sleep schedule isn’t a foolproof defence mechanism. Sometimes, they have to run – and when they do, it’s fast. Their lanky legs can reach up to 35mph over short distances, or a steady ten miles per hour over long distances. But if they’re outrun, hope is not lost. Giraffes are well-trained in the art of self-defence and can attack with kicks powerful enough to kill – and even decapitate – a lion. Understandably, most predators steer clear.
Drinking dangers
Our next giraffe fact focuses on another way in which they protect themselves. Along with sleeping, drinking is one of the most vulnerable times for a giraffe. Their long necks aren’t quite long enough to reach the ground, requiring them to awkwardly splay their front legs in a defenceless (and predator-appealing) pose. To avoid this, giraffes gain most of their water content from the leaves they tear from trees, cutting down the time they spend bent over to just once a day.
Tactile tongues
If you spend so much time eating, you need the right tools for it. Luckily, giraffes are well-equipped. Their tongues measure 18-20 inches long, are the strongest in the animal kingdom and are coated in a thick glue-like saliva to protect them from sticks and thorns. Because they spend their days tearing leaves in the scorching savannah sun, their tongues also have dark colouration to prevent sunburn. Their final foodie trick is that their tongues and upper lips are prehensile, meaning they can grasp plants and shoots much like an elephant’s trunk.
Unique spots
A surprising giraffe fact is that their eye-catching spots play more than just one role. First and foremost, the brown blotches help with camouflage among the savannah’s trees and dappled sunlight. These unique prints, like a human’s finger, also serve as a way for individuals to be recognisable within social groups. But most interestingly is their role in thermoregulation – simply put (we’re no scientists), the dark patches act as a ‘thermal window’ to help cool giraffes down. It’s not all about making a fashion statement.
Space exploration
You read that right – giraffes played a vital role in helping NASA with space travel. Scientists were envious of a giraffe's ability to withstand rapid changes in blood pressure when lowering their heads to drink, as the same pressure changes led to astronauts fainting during lift-off. After studying how giraffes regulate blood flow, they developed suits that keep our spacemen safe during gravity changes, giving us an invaluable leg up in the space race.
Secret sounds
These colossal creatures may stand out with their size, but they don’t quite have the vocal cords to match. It’s long been believed that, unlike most other animals, giraffes are mostly silent (save for the odd grunt, snort and hiss). However, recent research suggests they do have a unique sound – they hum at night. These low-frequency sounds are thought to be a way to scout out lost individuals, or, more charmingly, may be the sounds of giraffes snoring.
‘Horns’
Part of what makes a giraffe’s appearance so peculiar are the two tufty ‘horns’ sprouting from their skull. However, if we’re getting to the nitty gritty, the correct term for these is ossicones, which are boney structures sprouting from the skull. A male’s ossicones are thicker than a female’s, allowing for heavier blows when fighting (when aimed at the neck, an ossicone’s blow can be fatal). Our safari specialist, James, was lucky enough to see a tussle up close: 'I once saw two bull giraffes fight, using their necks and horns to sway and strike each other. They did it with such force and ferocity it was almost hypnotic, and such an unusual and dramatic spectacle to see from one of the most seemingly graceful creatures in the wild'.
Silent extinction
Sadly, these magnificent creatures are under threat of extinction. Their numbers have dropped by 40% over the last 30 years, leaving under 120,000 left in the wild, and they’ve already completely disappeared from seven African countries. Their disappearance has been branded a ‘silent extinction’, failing to attract global attention. However, efforts are steadily being made to aid conservation. The focus is largely on habitat protection and reforesting areas with acacia trees, which is a personal favourite of the giraffe.
Written by Evie Buller | Header Image by Olivier Romano.
