Giraffe predators and prey1/9/2024 In other animals such pressure would force the blood out through the capillary walls giraffes, however, have a very tight sheath of thick skin over their lower limbs that maintains high extravascular pressure. Conversely, the blood vessels in the lower legs are under great pressure (because of the weight of fluid pressing down on them). In the upper neck, a complex pressure-regulation system called the rete mirabile prevents excess blood flow to the brain when the giraffe lowers its head to drink. A giraffe's heart, which can be 0.6 meters in length (two feet) and weigh up to 11 kg (25 lb), has to generate around double the normal blood pressure for an average large mammal in order to maintain blood flow to the brain against gravity. Physiological adaptations, particularly in the circulatory system, permit the giraffe's large size. ![]() Males sometimes develop calcium deposits that form large bumps on their skull as they age, which can give the appearance of up to three further horns (ZSSD 2007). The appearance of the horns is a reliable method of identifying the sex of giraffes, with the females displaying tufts of hair on the top of the horns, whereas males' horns tend to be bald on top-an effect of necking in combat with other males. The prominent horns are formed from ossified cartilage and are called ossicones. Giraffes also have large eyes.īoth sexes have skin-covered horns (really knobs), although the horns of a female are smaller. ![]() It is thought that the dark color of their tongues protects them from getting sunburned while reaching for leaves on trees (ZSSD 2007). They also have thick, sticky saliva that coats any thorns they might swallow (ZSSD 2007). Giraffe's have long (46 centimeter or 18 inch), prehensile, blue-black tongues that they can use to maneuver around the long thorns of the acacia trees in order to reach the leaves on which they feed. (The Arabic word الزرافة ziraafa or zurapha, meaning "assemblage" (of animals), or just "tall," was used in English from the sixteenth century on, often in the Italianate form giraffa). ![]() A number of European languages retain it. The linking of giraffe, leopard, and camel traces back to at least the Romans and the English word camelopard first appeared in the fourteenth century and survived in common usage well into the nineteenth century. Because this spotted pattern is similar to that of a leopard, for a long time people called the giraffe a “camel-leopard,” thinking it to be a cross of a camel and a leopard, leading to the species name camelopardalis (AWF 2007 ZSSD 2007). Giraffes have spots covering their entire bodies, except their underbellies, with each giraffe having a unique pattern of spots. Like humans, giraffes have seven neck vertebrae unlike human neck vertebrae, giraffe neck vertebrae can each be over 25 centimeters (ten inches) long (ZSSD 2007). While the basic body pattern is the back sloping down to the hindquarters, with the back legs looking shorter than the front legs, the back and front legs actually are about the same length (ZSSD 2007). The legs and neck are very long, each about 1.8 meters (six feet) in length. Giraffes are the tallest land animals, reaching 5.5 meters (18 feet). Within the last century, anthropogenic activities have nearly eliminated the giraffe from its former range in Western Africa but it does remain common in eastern and southern Africa, with a total population estimated at 141,000 (Grzimek 2004). The giraffe is native to most of Sub-Saharian Africa with its range extending from Chad to South Africa. ![]() Giraffes have been described in early written records as being "magnificent in appearance, bizarre in form, unique in gait, colossal in height and inoffensive in character," and have been revered in ancient cultures and even some modern cultures (AWF 2007). Giraffes play an unique role in the ecosystem by consuming leaves too high for use by most animals and by sometimes serving as an "early-warning" system for near-by animals regarding the presence of predators. Giraffes also have the longest tail of any land mammal (up to 2.4 meters or 8 feet) and a spotted pattern reminiscent of the leopard (which ties to the origin of the species name) (ZSSD 2007). Females are generally slightly shorter (up to 4.3 meters or 14 feet) and weigh less than the males do (up to 680 kilograms or 1,500 pounds) (ZSSD 2007). Males can be 4.8 to 5.5 meters (16 to 18 feet) tall and weigh up to 1,360 kilograms (3,000 pounds). The giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), an African even-toed ungulate mammal, has a very long neck and legs and is the tallest of all land-living animal species.
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