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    Giraffe

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    majmjud
    The giraffe is the tallest animal in the world, reaching heights of up to 5.5 meters tall for males and 4.5 meters for females. They have an incredibly long neck that accounts for much of their height and has a complex circulatory system. Giraffes feed on tree leaves by using their long tongues to pull foliage into their mouths. Males establish dominance through neck fighting and court receptive females, who give birth to a single calf after over a year of gestation. Giraffes live in social herds but range behaviors differ between the sexes.

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    Giraffe

    Uploaded by

    majmjud
    16 views2 pages
    The giraffe is the tallest animal in the world, reaching heights of up to 5.5 meters tall for males and 4.5 meters for females. They have an incredibly long neck that accounts for much of their height and has a complex circulatory system. Giraffes feed on tree leaves by using their long tongues to pull foliage into their mouths. Males establish dominance through neck fighting and court receptive females, who give birth to a single calf after over a year of gestation. Giraffes live in social herds but range behaviors differ between the sexes.

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    The giraffe is the tallest animal in the world, reaching heights of up to 5.5 meters tall for males and 4.5 meters for females. They have an incredibly long neck that accounts for much of their height and has a complex circulatory system. Giraffes feed on tree leaves by using their long tongues to pull foliage into their mouths. Males establish dominance through neck fighting and court receptive females, who give birth to a single calf after over a year of gestation. Giraffes live in social herds but range behaviors differ between the sexes.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    16 views2 pages

    Giraffe

    Uploaded by

    majmjud
    The giraffe is the tallest animal in the world, reaching heights of up to 5.5 meters tall for males and 4.5 meters for females. They have an incredibly long neck that accounts for much of their height and has a complex circulatory system. Giraffes feed on tree leaves by using their long tongues to pull foliage into their mouths. Males establish dominance through neck fighting and court receptive females, who give birth to a single calf after over a year of gestation. Giraffes live in social herds but range behaviors differ between the sexes.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    Name

    Giraffe [Giraffa camelopardalis]


    Appearance

    The giraffe is the tallest animal in the world, attaining a


    height of 5.5m, its incredibly long neck accounting for much of its height.
    The long neck has resulted in a complex blood circulatory system, which is
    not yet fully understood by zoologists. Adult males generally reach a
    height of about 5 metres and females about 4,5 metres. Big males can
    weigh a massive 1 200 kilograms while females usually weigh some 800 to
    900 kilograms. Their skin colour is tan with light brown patches on females
    and dark brown patches on males. Both males and females have short
    horns covered in skin.
    Diet
    Because of their very long necks, Giraffes are able to feed on the foliage of
    trees that is not accessible to other herbivores. The long prehensile tongue
    is used to pull pods and leaves into the mouth which are then stripped
    from the stems with the spatulate incisor teeth.
    Breeding

    Receptive cows are continuously courted by adult bulls.


    They have a gestation period of 457 days whereafter a single calf is born.
    At birth a calf weighs about 100 Kg and they are weaned between six to
    eight months, but only about 52 per cent of the calves ever reach maturity,
    since the young are preyed upon by Lions, Hyenas and Leopards. Sexual
    maturity is reached after four or five years. The reproductive receptiveness
    of cows is checked upon by adult bulls moving from group to group.
    Behaviour
    Giraffes are fairly social animals and get together in
    herds from time to time. However, there is no group bonding. Youngsters
    stay with a few adult females and the males are nomadic and move
    between groups of females. Because Giraffes do not have a fixed breeding
    season, males are always wandering in search of receptive females. The
    male's fight for dominance, and for the right to mate with females, is
    fascinating to watch. They use their long muscular necks to strike at an
    opponent's body and wrestle by twining their necks around each other.
    The loser is pushed off balance and the encounters very rarely lead to
    serious injury. Giraffes are generally quiet animals that go about their
    business with an air of serenity. Occasionally, when disturbed, they will
    snort and, when attacked by predators, they bellow.
    Where they are found

    Historical distribution has been fragmented through


    hunting, farming and disease (rinder-pest). However, today conserved
    populations are thriving and have been widely reintroduced to private
    ranches and game reserves.
    Vital Statistics

    Latin Name
    Giraffa Camelopardalis

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