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The giraffe lives throughout almost all of sub-Saharan Africa. The appearance of this animal is so unusual that it is difficult to confuse it with any other animal. The first question that almost everyone asks is: “How tall is a giraffe?”

This mammal is the tallest of all currently known animals. The height of the giraffe from the ground to the forehead reaches 6 meters! The weight of an adult male exceeds 1 ton. The female is a little lighter.

The height of the giraffe's neck and head separately from the body reaches 3 meters. He has rather expressive eyes, covered with thick eyelashes. The animal's ears are small and narrow.

Both sexes have horns covered with hair on their foreheads. The tallest mammal's coloration varies greatly. Scientists note that no two giraffes have the same color. The spot-shaped pattern is unique, like a fingerprint.

The main color background of the giraffe is yellowish-red. There are chocolate-brown spots on it in a chaotic manner. Young giraffes are always lighter in color than adults. White giraffes are sometimes seen. But this is very rare. They live in Kenya and Northern Tanzania.

Giraffe food

It is no coincidence that the height of a giraffe (including its neck and head) is compared to the height of a two-story house. a strange beast - the result of evolution. She is the giraffe's first assistant in getting food. The animal easily gets leaves from wild apricots, acacias and mimosa.

In addition, the giraffe has a rather long tongue - 50 centimeters. Animals rarely eat grass that spreads along the ground. After all, the height of a giraffe (including its neck and head) is 6 meters! This forces him to spread his front legs wide apart, and sometimes even drop to his knees. In approximately this position, a tall animal drinks water from a reservoir. True, a giraffe can go without water for several weeks, replacing it with succulent wet food.

Giraffes in a herd

These animals form herds of 15 to 50 individuals. It is not uncommon for a group of giraffes to team up with zebras, ostriches and antelopes. But this is a short-lived partnership. The growth of a giraffe obliges other tribesmen to bow their heads before it.

Despite their peace-loving nature, giraffes sometimes engage in a kind of duel with each other. But at the end of the fight, the defeated giraffe is not expelled from the herd, as is customary with other animals. The six-meter height of the giraffe (including the neck and head) suggests the awkwardness of the mammal. But in reality, this animal is perfectly adapted to existence in the savannah.

Giraffe facts

Tall growth allows the animal to see far. Giraffes are considered diurnal creatures.

In the morning they feed, and spend the second half of the day in a pleasant doze, periodically chewing cud. At night, giraffes get full sleep. They lie down on the ground, tuck their forelimbs and one of their hind limbs under them.

The head is placed on the other hind limb, extended to the side. In this position, the height of the giraffe, including the head and neck, reaches about 3.5 m. Even in a sitting position, the animal looks tall.

The mating season for giraffes begins in July and lasts until September. The female's pregnancy lasts about 450 days. A newborn cub weighs approximately 70 kg. The height of the giraffe, including the neck and head, is almost 2 meters. During childbirth, a herd of giraffes surrounds the female tribesman, protecting her from possible danger.

Predators and giraffe

In addition to answering the question “What is the height of a giraffe, including the neck and head?”, you can find out if it has enemies. In the wild, only lions dare to hunt the tallest animal. Predators manage to defeat a giraffe when they are in a pride.

If a lion alone risks waylaying a giant, he may fail. An employee of one of the national parks witnessed a similar incident. The predator was going to jump on the giraffe's back to bite its cervical vertebrae.

But during the jump, the lion missed and was knocked down by the strongest blows of the giraffe’s hooves right in the chest. Seeing that the lion was not moving, the eyewitness came closer: the predator’s chest was crushed. This is how the peace-loving giraffe was able to fend for itself!

It's interesting that people mostly ask, "How tall is a giraffe?" But only a few fans of the majestic beast are interested in other information. For example, a giraffe's heart weighs more than 12 kilograms!

With such a mass, it passes through itself about 60 liters of blood. This leads to very high blood pressure in the animal. Therefore, sudden movements when lowering and raising the head are unfavorable for the giraffe.

Despite its tall stature, the majestic animal can reach speeds of more than 55 kilometers per hour when galloping. This is a good opportunity for a giraffe to outrun a racehorse when running short distances. But in fact, the unusual animal moves imposingly, moving both front and hind limbs in turn.

By the way, a giraffe’s legs are thin. This allows the animal to move only on a flat surface. Interestingly, giraffes can jump over obstacles of 1.5-2 meters.

Scientists believe that the tallest animal is not a nomadic animal. Like many other species, giraffes stay within a clearly defined territory. It has been observed that animals appear anxious outside their territory.

Male giraffes do not tolerate rivals in their zone during the mating season. If the animal notices a competitor, it takes a threatening pose, which is characterized by stretching its head upward and a tense, numb neck. This measure is usually enough for the opponent to leave.

In extreme cases, giraffes butt heads with each other. But such battles are safe. The animals lazily push each other, swaying their long necks. In most cases, the owner manages to drive away the alien giraffe.

Small waterbills are quite frequent guests on the necks of giraffes. They look for larvae of flies and ticks on the skin of giant animals and eat them. Vodoklui - a kind of sanitary aid for the giraffe in

It is impossible not to notice or confuse him with someone else. The giraffe is visible from afar - a characteristic spotted body, a small head on a disproportionately elongated neck and long strong legs.

Description of the giraffe

Giraffa camelopardalis is rightfully recognized as the tallest of modern animals.. Males weighing 900–1200 kg grow to 5.5–6.1 m, approximately consisting of 7 cervical vertebrae (as in most mammals). Females are always slightly smaller in height/weight.

Appearance

The giraffe posed the biggest mystery to physiologists, who wondered how it copes with overloads when suddenly raising/lowering its head. The giant's heart is located 3 m below the head and 2 m above the hooves. Consequently, his limbs should swell (under the pressure of the blood column), which does not happen in reality, and a cunning mechanism has been invented to deliver blood to the brain.

The great jugular vein has shut-off valves: they cut off blood flow to maintain pressure in the central artery leading to the brain.
Head movements do not threaten the giraffe's death, since its blood is very thick (the density of red blood cells is twice the density of human blood cells).
The giraffe has a powerful 12-kilogram heart: it pumps 60 liters of blood per minute and creates pressure 3 times greater than in humans.

The head of the artiodactyl is decorated with ossicones - a pair (sometimes 2 pairs) of fur-covered horns. Often in the center of the forehead there is a bone growth, similar to another horn. The giraffe has neat protruding ears and black eyes surrounded by thick eyelashes.

This is interesting! The animals have an amazing oral apparatus with a flexible purple tongue 46 cm long. Hairs grow on the lips, sending information to the brain about the degree of maturity of the leaves and the presence of thorns.

The inner edges of the lips are studded with nipples, which hold the plant, pruned by the lower incisors. The tongue passes by the thorns, curls into a groove and wraps around a branch with young leaves, pulling them up to the upper lip. The spots on the giraffe's body are designed to camouflage it among the trees, imitating the play of light and shadow in the crowns. The lower part of the body is lighter and free of spots. The coloring of giraffes depends on the areas where the animals live.

Lifestyle and behavior

These artiodactyls have excellent vision, smell and hearing, supported by phenomenal growth - all factors combined allow them to quickly notice the enemy and monitor their comrades at a distance of up to 1 km. Giraffes feed in the morning and after a siesta, which they spend half asleep, hiding in the shade of acacia trees and chewing cud. During these hours, their eyes are half-closed, but their ears are constantly moving. Deep, albeit short (20 minutes) sleep comes to them at night: the giants either get up or lay down on the ground again.

This is interesting! They lie down, tucking one hind leg and both front legs under them. The giraffe extends its second hind leg to the side (to quickly stand up in case of danger) and places its head on it so that the neck turns into an arch.

Adult females with children and young animals usually live in groups of up to 20 individuals, dispersing when grazing in the forest and uniting in open areas. An inextricable connection is preserved only between mothers and babies: the rest either leave the group or return.

The more food, the more numerous the community: in the rainy season it includes at least 10–15 individuals, in drought – no more than five. Animals move primarily by ambling - a smooth step, in which both right and then both left legs are alternately used. Occasionally, giraffes change style, switching to a slow gallop, but do not maintain such a gait for more than 2–3 minutes.

Galloping is accompanied by deep nodding and bending. This is explained by a shift in the center of gravity, in which the giraffe is forced to tilt its neck/head back in order to simultaneously lift its front legs off the ground. Despite the rather clumsy running, the animal develops good speed (about 50 km/h) and is capable of jumping over obstacles up to 1.85 m high.

How long do giraffes live?

Under natural conditions, these colossi live for less than a quarter of a century, in zoos - up to 30–35 years. The first long-necked captives appeared in the zoological parks of Egypt and Rome around 1500 BC. Giraffes arrived on the European continent (France, Great Britain and Germany) only in the 20s of the last century.

They were transported by sailing ships, and then simply led overland, putting leather sandals on their hooves (so that they would not wear out) and covering them with raincoats. Nowadays, giraffes have learned to reproduce in captivity and are kept in almost all famous zoos.

Important! Previously, zoologists were sure that giraffes “don’t talk,” but later found out that they have a healthy vocal apparatus, configured to broadcast a variety of sound signals.

Thus, frightened cubs make thin and plaintive sounds without opening their lips. Seasoned males roar loudly, having reached the peak of excitement. In addition, when highly excited or during a fight, males growl or cough hoarsely. When faced with an external threat, animals snore, releasing air through their nostrils.

Subspecies of giraffes

Each subspecies differs in nuances of color and area of permanent habitat. After much debate, biologists came to the conclusion that there are 9 subspecies, between which crossing is sometimes possible.

Modern subspecies of giraffe (with range zones):

Angolan giraffe – Botswana and Namibia;
Kordofan giraffe – Central African Republic and western Sudan;
Thornycroft's giraffe – Zambia;
West African giraffe - now only in Chad (formerly all of West Africa);
Masai giraffe – Tanzania and southern Kenya;
Nubian giraffe - western Ethiopia and eastern Sudan;
Reticulated giraffe – southern Somalia and northern Kenya;
Rothschild's giraffe (Ugandan giraffe) – Uganda;
South African giraffe - South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

This is interesting! Even among animals belonging to the same subspecies, no two giraffes are absolutely identical. The spotted patterns on the fur are akin to fingerprints and are completely unique.

Range, habitats

To see giraffes, you have to go to Africa. Now the animals live in the savannas and dry forests of South/East Africa, located south and southeast of the Sahara. Giraffes that inhabited the territories north of the Sahara were exterminated a long time ago: the last population lived on the Mediterranean coast and in the Nile Delta during the era of Ancient Egypt. In the last century, the range has narrowed even more, and the largest populations of giraffes today live only in reserves and nature reserves.

Giraffe diet

It takes a giraffe a total of 12–14 hours to eat a daily meal (usually at dawn and sunset). A favorite delicacy is acacia trees, which grow in different parts of the African continent. In addition to varieties of acacia, the menu includes from 40 to 60 species of woody vegetation, as well as tall young grass that grows wildly after rainstorms. During drought, giraffes switch to less appetizing food, starting to pick up dried acacia pods, fallen leaves and hard leaves of plants that tolerate the lack of moisture well.

Like other ruminants, the giraffe chews plant matter repeatedly so that it is quickly absorbed in the stomach. These artiodactyls are endowed with a curious property - they chew without stopping their movement, which significantly increases the grazing time.

This is interesting! Giraffes are classified as “pluckers”, as they pick flowers, young shoots and leaves of trees/shrubs growing at a height of 2 to 6 meters.

It is believed that, relative to its size (height and weight), the giraffe eats very moderately. Males eat approximately 66 kg of fresh greens every day, females eat even less, up to 58 kg. In some regions, animals, making up for the lack of mineral components, absorb the soil. These artiodactyls can do without water: it enters their body from food, which is 70% moisture. However, when giraffes go to sources with clean water, they drink it with pleasure.

Natural enemies

In nature, these giants have few enemies. Not everyone will dare to attack such a colossus, and few people want to suffer from the powerful front hooves. One precise blow and the enemy’s skull is split. But attacks on adults and especially young giraffes still happen. The list of natural enemies includes such predators as:

leopards;
hyena-like dogs.

Eyewitnesses who visited the Etosha Nature Reserve in northern Namibia described how lions jumped on a giraffe and managed to bite its neck.

One of the most famous and beloved animals is giraffe. It’s interesting that even those who have never seen him live love him. And it’s definitely worth looking at it at least once in your life.

This is an incredibly graceful animal, elegant and graceful. However, it seems so only at first glance. In fact, the giraffe is simply huge, because its height reaches 6 meters, this tallest animal. And such an animal weighs about a ton, and, it happens, even more. Females are generally smaller.

Of course, the unusualness of this family of giraffes lies, first of all, in its extraordinary neck. Compared to the body, it is simply incredibly long.

But meanwhile, it has only 7 cervical vertebrae, like any other animal that has a regular or even a very short neck. But the giraffe’s neck muscles are very powerful. They are capable of not only holding the head of this beast high above, but also allowing the large, heavy neck to perform any manipulation.

It is believed that no giraffes have the same pattern of spots.

This animal has a very strong and large heart, weighing 12 kg. The work of this organ is not easy, because it is necessary to pump blood to the brain and disperse it throughout the body, and since the brain is far above, it is very important for a giraffe to maintain the required pressure; in this animal it is three times higher than in an ordinary person.

With such pressure, the animal could die if the head was suddenly lowered or raised - too much overload. But nature has made the giraffe’s blood very thick and dense, and the animal’s veins are equipped with valves that control the flow of blood.

Giraffes' tongue also unusual. It is too dark in color and can protrude almost half a meter. The animal needs this in order to cling to tree branches that grow especially high.

There are large eyes with thick eyelashes on the head; giraffes have excellent vision. He is able to spot other giraffes at a distance of a kilometer. The ears are not large, although the hearing is excellent.

The giraffe's tongue has an unusual color

There is also no need to complain about the sense of smell; it is well developed in the giraffe. On the head there are horns covered with hair. Sometimes you can find a giraffe with two pairs of horns. And some individuals also have a horn - in the middle of the forehead, although, in reality, this is a bone growth that is not a horn.

The legs of these animals are long and thin. Because they have to carry so much weight, giraffes can only move on hard, dense surfaces.

Therefore, giraffes cannot tolerate swamps, and even more so rivers. They prefer to move slowly, smoothly, without sudden movements. However, there is no need to think about This animal, as if talking about a lout. Giraffe if necessary, he is able to run at a speed of 55 km/h and make jumps in height of more than 1.8 meters.

The strong body of the animal is covered with uniform, short hair, which has a unique color. On a lighter background there are spots of various shapes and in a chaotic order. The shape and location of the spots are individual, just like fingerprints on a person’s hand.

Giraffes sleep in this position

But all giraffes do not have spots on their bellies. These amazing creatures live only in Africa. They are especially comfortable in the savannas, which are located in the south and east, below the Sahara.

However, at least real animal world giraffe and comfortable for its residence, the number is constantly falling. To preserve the population, special reserves, reserves, and protected areas are created to protect the peace of these animals, allowing them to reproduce and live a long life in natural conditions.

But giraffe such animal, which people want to see live, and not just on the picture. Therefore, many zoos have these magnificent animals. In captivity, individuals reproduce very well, quickly get used to new conditions and live without feeling any discomfort.

Character and lifestyle of the giraffe

Giraffes rarely live alone. Most often they gather in small groups that can hardly be called herds. Females, for example, can gather in groups of 4 to 30 heads. At the same time, the composition of the group can constantly change.

Giraffes can gather in large herds and small groups

And even in such groups they are not too attached to each other. It is enough for an animal to know that its brothers are grazing next to it, and it is not at all necessary to contact them.

In addition, these giants have few enemies, so there is no need to unite into a strong, reliable herd. Although, when moving in search of food, giraffes can join other herds, for example.

In such herds, it is easier for mothers to defend themselves from or, which rarely attack adult animals, but hunt babies. But after the right place is found, the proud people leave their companions - antelopes.

There are no leaders or leaders in groups, but older animals still enjoy special authority. Fights also occur when two strong, adult males meet.

The photo shows male giraffes fighting

Their fights involve headbutting the opponent's neck. Usually, great cruelty is not observed, but during the mating season, males become more aggressive.

But even then they do not use kicks, which are considered the most dangerous and are used only when defending against predators. It is known that such a blow can easily split the opponent’s skull.

But giraffes are peaceful towards their fellow creatures. In addition, a male who has been defeated can calmly remain in the herd further; no one expels him, as other animals do.

It is believed that giraffes do not make sounds at all. This is not true. These animals have a voice, but it is much lower than the frequencies that the human ear can distinguish.

Giraffes have another amazing property - they sleep less than any other animal. They don't sleep more than two hours a day, and that's enough for them. They can sleep standing up, or they can lie down with their head on their torso.

Nutrition

Giraffe artiodactyl, exclusively herbivore. They are ruminants, the same as, and chew their food several times, because they have a four-chambered stomach.

The main diet of the animal is leaves of trees and shrubs. Most of all, gourmets prefer acacia. Males choose the highest branches, while they stretch their necks even more and seem even more majestic.

Females do not strive to visually increase their height; they are content with the vegetation that is located at the level of their body. The animals immediately grab the entire branch with their tongue and pull it into their mouth, stripping off all the leaves. In order to feed themselves, giraffes eat up to 20 hours a day, because they need at least 30 kg.

The food they eat is so rich in juices that giraffes have very little need for water. For weeks, or even months, this large animal can go without drinking. When a giraffe drinks, it can drink about 40 liters at once.

There is no such amount of water at the top, so when drinking, the animal is forced to bend its neck very low and spread its front legs wide apart. This is the most uncomfortable and vulnerable position; it is in this position that the giraffe is clumsy and clumsy.

To get drunk, the giraffe has to take the most vulnerable pose

Therefore, he starts drinking only in full confidence that there is no danger nearby. By the way, this is why giraffes do not like to nibble grass.

Reproduction and lifespan

The mating season and mating itself falls during the rainy season. But the birth itself most often occurs from May to August, that is, during the months of drought. Pregnancy for a female giraffe lasts more than a year - 457 days, but the baby is born already about 2 meters tall. The female brings one cub, rarely, but twins can also be born.

Within 15 minutes after birth, the baby rises to its feet and begins to feed on mother's milk. At this time, they are completely defenseless, so they are forced to hide throughout the first week after birth.

Interestingly, after 3-4 weeks of birth, giraffes begin to separate from their calves, leaving them in the care of other adult females. The mother can go 200 meters from the herd and return only in the evening to feed the baby.

This continues until the cubs are able to accompany the mother. The babies grow up quickly, but will be with the female for 12-16 months. True, young males separate from their mother at 12-14 months of age.

They begin to live alone until they become strong, sexually mature males. And sexual maturity in males occurs at 4-5 years. However, giraffes begin to mate only after they are 7 years old.

Females, most often, remain in the herd. They become sexually mature at 3-4 years, however, they do not rush to become mothers for at least a year. These interesting animals live in the wild for up to 25 years. Even in captivity, in specially created conditions, under the supervision of veterinarians, the life expectancy of these beauties did not exceed a record 28 years.

GIRAFFE
(Giraffa camelopardalis)- the tallest of modern animals. A mammal of the artiodactyl order, distributed in sub-Saharan Africa, where the species usually inhabits savannas with sparsely standing trees and shrubs.

Dimensions. The giraffe is the fourth largest land animal; The only animals larger than the giraffe are the elephant, hippopotamus and rhinoceros. The largest males reach a height of 5.9 m to the crown and 3.7 m at the withers with a weight of approx. 2 t (averages are approximately 5.2 m, 3 m and approx. 1 t). Females are on average smaller: approximately 4.4 m to the crown, 2.7 m at the withers and weighing 600 kg. The giraffe's tail, approximately 1 m long, ends in a brush of black hair.
Coat. The giraffe's skin is densely covered with small and large spots from brown to almost black, which are separated by narrow yellowish or whitish spaces. The shape of the spots is irregular, with smooth or jagged edges, but on the body of each individual individual, as a rule, they are of the same type. A stiff dark brown mane about 12 cm high grows on the neck.
Skeleton of the neck. Although the giraffe's neck is over 1.5 m in length, there are only seven cervical vertebrae, like most other mammals, including humans. However, each cervical vertebra is greatly elongated; in addition, the first thoracic (next to the cervical) vertebra is also modified and very similar to the cervical one.
Blood pressure. High blood pressure is required to keep blood from the heart moving up to the brain. When the animal's head is raised, this pressure at the level of the brain is the same as that of other large mammals. However, when lowering the head, the pressure in it could dangerously increase if the giraffe's brain were not protected by special vascular formations.
There are two of them, and both are located at the base of the skull: here blood pressure is damped in a “wonderful network” (rete mirabile) of thin intertwining vessels, and valves in the veins allow blood to flow only in one direction (to the heart), preventing it from flowing back to the brain. Horns.
Males and females have a pair of short, blunt horns covered with skin on the top of their heads. In males they are more massive and longer - up to 23 cm. Sometimes there is a third horn, on the forehead, approximately between the eyes; in males it is more common and more developed. Two bony outgrowths in the upper part of the back of the head, to which the neck muscles and ligaments are attached, can also grow greatly, resembling the shape of horns, which are called posterior, or occipital. In some individuals, usually old males, both three true horns and two posterior ones are well developed; they are called "five-horned" giraffes. Sometimes in old males other bony outgrowths are observed on the skull. Gaits.
Giraffes have two main gaits: walk and gallop. In the first case, the animal moves at an amble, i.e. alternately bringing forward two legs, first on one side, then on the other side of the body. The gallop looks awkward; the hind and front legs cross, but the speed reaches 56 km/h. During a gallop, the giraffe's neck and head swing strongly, making a figure eight, and the tail either swings from side to side, or is raised high and curled over the back. The giraffe has sharper vision than any other African mammal, with the possible exception of the cheetah. In addition, the enormous height allows one to notice objects at a very great distance. Giraffes are ruminants, like cows. They have a four-chambered stomach, and their jaws constantly chew cud—partially chewed food that is regurgitated from the first chamber of the stomach for secondary chewing. The giraffe's diet consists almost entirely of young shoots of trees and shrubs. Apparently, it prefers thorny acacias, but often also feeds on mimosas, wild apricots and some shrubs, and, if necessary, can also eat freshly grown grass. Giraffes can survive without water for many weeks, possibly months.
Activity. Giraffes are diurnal animals, most active in the early morning and evening. They wait out the peak of the daytime heat, either standing with their neck or head down on a tree branch, or lying down, usually raising their neck and head to watch for danger. Giraffes sleep at night, but only for a few minutes at a time; The total duration of deep sleep apparently does not exceed 20 minutes per night. A sleeping giraffe lies with its neck bent so that its head rests on the lower part of its hind limb.
Social behavior and territoriality. Typically, giraffes live alone (especially old males) or in small loosely formed groups of two to ten animals, less often in larger herds numbering up to 70 individuals. Herds can be mixed (males, females, young animals), bachelor (only young or only mature males) or consist of females and young animals. Giraffe vocalizations are typical of large herbivores, ranging from snorting and mooing to grunts and roars. Not counting migration routes, the area of an individual giraffe's home range, i.e. The area in which it regularly grazes varies from approximately 23 to 163 km2 depending on the terrain.
Fights. Giraffes are extremely peaceful and even timid animals, but males fight among themselves for leadership, and animals of both sexes engage in fights with predators if they cannot escape from them. Within each population, the relationships of adult males are hierarchical. Hierarchy is maintained through fighting or threatening postures, such as lowering the neck to an almost horizontal position, as if the animal is preparing to butt an opponent. When fighting, two or more males stand side by side, facing the same or opposite directions, and swing their necks like giant hammers, trying to hit each other. The fight is often ritualized and does not cause harm to the participants, but sometimes, especially if several males are competing for a female ready to mate, it can end in a real knockout. In a fight with a predator, the giraffe either slashes downwards with its front legs or kicks with its hind legs. The giraffe's hooves are very large - the diameter of the front ones reaches 23 cm. It is known that giraffes even killed attacking lions with a blow of their hooves.
Enemies. The only serious enemy of adult giraffes (apart from humans) is the lion. Most often, he attacks when the giraffe is lying or standing, awkwardly bent, drinking water or nibbling grass. Young giraffes are also preyed upon by other predators, such as leopards and hyenas. For a long time, people killed giraffes for meat, tendons (for making bow strings, ropes and strings of musical instruments), tail tassels (for bracelets, fly swatters and threads) and skin (for making shields, drums, whips, sandals, etc. .). Uncontrolled hunting has become one of the main reasons for the decline in both the numbers and distribution of these animals.
Reproduction. Giraffes breed throughout the year, but tend to mate most intensively during the rainy season, such as March. Gestation lasts 15 months (457 days), and therefore the largest number of cubs are born during the dry season, i.e. approximately from May to August. Females typically give birth to one calf approximately every 20-23 months for approximately 15 years. During childbirth, the mother bends her hind legs; When a calf falls from a height to the ground, the umbilical cord breaks. Newborn, height approx. 2 m to the top of the head and weighing approx. 55 kg, is able to stand up within an hour, and often within 10 minutes after birth. He suckles milk up to 13 months, but begins to pluck leaves already at two weeks of age. Usually the calf remains with its mother for another 2-5 months after the end of feeding. The mortality rate of young animals is high - up to 68% of calves die in the first year of life. Female giraffes reach sexual maturity at 3.5 years of age and reach maximum size at 5 years of age; males mature by 4.5 years and are fully grown by seven. In nature, the average life expectancy is 6 years, and the maximum is approx. 26. The record for longevity in captivity is 36 years.
Classification and evolutionary history. The giraffe and 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. approximately 15 million years ago, and spread from there to Europe and Africa. The oldest remains of a 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 changes in the environment. The species was found in northern Africa (in Morocco) 1,400 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.

Collier's Encyclopedia. - Open Society. 2000 .

Synonyms:

See what "GIRAFFE" is in other dictionaries:

giraffe- a, m. GIRAFFE s, f. girafe f. 1. Giraffe (giraffe), a two-hoofed animal... with a low back and an incongruously long neck. Dal. We can show up in cities like giraffes or sieges: it was no joke to see four Russian writers. 19. 4. 1828. P. A.... ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language

Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), a mammal of the family. giraffidae. The body is short, the neck is very long (but there are 7 cervical vertebrae, like most mammals), body height up to 5.5 m, weight up to 1000 kg (males are larger than females). Sharp fluctuations in blood... Biological encyclopedic dictionary

Giraffe, cameleopard, okapi Dictionary of Russian synonyms. giraffe noun, number of synonyms: 8 animal (277) giraffe ... Synonym dictionary

- (lat. Camelopardalis) circumpolar constellation of the Northern Hemisphere ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Camelopardalis), constellation of the northern part of the sky. Its brightest star, Beta, has a magnitude of 4.0. This constellation includes the star cluster NGC 1502, which can be seen with binoculars... Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary

GIRAFFE, giraffe, male, and GIRAFFE, giraffe, female. (French girafe) (zool.). A ruminant with a very long neck and very long legs, with sandy yellow fur, found in tropical Africa. Ushakov's explanatory dictionary. D.N. Ushakov. 1935… … Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary