ANIMAL CLASSIFICATION

GIRAFFE

KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM:Chordata
CLASS:Mammalia
ORDER:Artiodactyla
FAMILY:Giraffidae
GENUS:Giraffa (one who walk swiftly) Camelopardalis (camel marked like a leopard)
COMMON NAME: Giraffe 
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Giraffa camelopardalis
TYPE: Mammals
DIET: Herbivore (selective browsers that prefer new growth foliage of acacia, mimosa brush,    and Combretum trees 2 to 5 m high) 
AVERAGE LIFE SPAN IN THE WILD: 25 years
SIZE: 14 to 19 feet
WEIGHT: 1,750 to 2,800 pounds

SIZE RELATIVE TO A 6-FT MAN: 

GIRAFFE HABITAT

        Giraffes can inhabit savannas, grasslands or open woodlands. Giraffes prefer areas enriched with acacia growth (a genus of shrubs and trees). Most giraffes live either in East Africa or in Angola and Zambia in southwestern Africa. Until the middle of the 20th century giraffes were also commonly found in West Africa, south of the Sahara. But populations there have fallen sharply and become increasingly fragmented.

 

GIRAFFE BEHAVIOUR

        Female giraffes associate in groups of a dozen or so members, occasionally including a few younger males. Male giraffes tend to live in bachelor herds, with older males often leading solitary lives. A individual giraffe can join or leave the herd at any time and for no particular reason.

               Female giraffes spend just over half a 24 hour day browsing, male giraffes spend less time doing this – about 43% of the time that the female does. Night is mostly spent lying down ruminating, especially in the hours after dark and before dawn. Male giraffes spend about 22% of the 24 hours walking, compared to 13% for female giraffes. The rest of the time male giraffes are searching for a female giraffe to mate with. Giraffe herds do not have a leader and individual giraffes show no particular preferences for others in the herd. Young giraffes are never left alone, however, they are looked after in a kind of nursery group where the females help look after each others calves (baby giraffes).

HOW DOES A GIRAFFE MOVE?

        Giraffes have two ways of moving, a loping walk and a gallop. When they walk, the giraffes move both feet on one side of their body in unison, followed by both feet on the other side. When they run, giraffes move the front feet together, then the back feet, swinging the hind feet up and planting them in front of the forefeet. While running, the neck of a giraffe moves backward and forward to keep the animal balanced. Giraffes have a top speed of about 56 kilometres per hour (35 miles per hour), however, because its legs are so long a galloping giraffe does not appear to be going very fast.

        Giraffes are not great travelers, despite their long legs. Giraffes cannot walk over swampy ground because their hooves quickly sink and they very rarely wade across rivers. Giraffes on opposite banks of a river may never come into contact, unless the water levels drop.

HOW DOES A GIRAFFE BEND DOWN?

        For giraffes, bending down is a daily challenge. To reach ground level for example, when drinking a giraffe has to splay its front legs at an angle of almost 45 degrees. A giraffes circulatory system is also specially modified, because the high pressure needed to pump blood up to its head could cause brain damage when the head is lowered. To deal with this problem, giraffes have elastic blood vessels that relieve some of the excess pressure.

        Giraffes also have a series of valves in their neck veins that ensure that blood always flows from the head back towards the heart, even when this means going against gravity. When giraffes do bend down to drink at water holes, it is commonly done in pairs. This is so that one giraffe can drink, whilst the other keeps an eye open for predators.

QUETION

1.How does giraffe bend down?

2 How does male giraffe give birth?

3.How long does giraffe?

4.Where is the habitat of giraffe?

5.What is the diet of giraffe?

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