Giraffe

First described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, the name Giraffe comes from the Arabic word zarafa, meaning “fast-walker” The Giraffe is in the Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Chordata, Class: Mammalia, Order: Artiodactyla, Family: Giraffidae, Genus: Giraffa, Species: Giraffa camelopardalis. Predators of the Giraffe include lions, Crocodiles, and Humans.

The average Giraffe is about 18 Ft tall and weighs up to 3,000 Ibs. Their body structure consists of a long neck, skinny legs, and a mid body where most of the Giraffe’s organs are. Their long necks are used for many purposes other then to reach food on trees, such as to look out for predators, as well as necking. Necking is the term used to describe when giraffes are fighting with their necks, most likely over dominance.

Giraffes are found south of the Sahara in dry, arid savanna zones with trees. Some of the countries covered in this area are: Botswana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Chad, and The Central African Republic.

Giraffes are herbivores, with a diet consisting of grass, fruits from trees and shrubs. Their main source of food is the Acacia tree. Giraffes spend 16-20 Hrs a day eating. In this time it consumes about 65 pounds of food in this time. But, Giraffes can live on as little as 15 Ibs of food a day. They will drink water when they find it, but they can survive in areas with little water.

Females become sexually mature at age four. Males become sexually mature at age four or five, but males must wait until age seven to mate. To start the process of reproduction, a male will determine if a female is fertile. If she is, he will court her with intentions to mate. After mating, the calve takes between 453-464 days (15 months) to form.

There are about 80,000 Giraffes in the world. This is a healthy number, putting Giraffes in the Least Threatened category in terms of endangered species. The major problem with Giraffes isn’t endangerment, its loss of open land for them to live. But thanks to animal preserves, this problem is partially solved.