Hall-Martin A. J.; Skinner J. D.; Hopkins B. J. (1978). "The development of the reproductive organs of the male giraffe, Giraffa camelopardalis" (PDF). Journal of Reproduction and Fertility. 52 (1): 1–7. doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.0520001. PMID 621681. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 July 2018 . Retrieved 12 June 2017. A giraffe eats around 34 kg (75 lb) of foliage daily. They mostly eat during the first and last hours of daytime. They get 70% of their moisture from their food so need to drink very little. In fact, they can survive for up to three weeks without drinking water. During mating season, the male giraffe nudges the females behind to induce urination. He then tastes the urine to see if the female is in heat (ready to mate). The famous question that has dominated scientific interest in giraffes since the Galapagos finches first lit the fire of Darwin’s interest in evolution. Giraffes proved to be the textbook example of how a physical trait of some individuals (height, stripes, spots) conferred an advantage and, over many thousands of years, became the signature look of a species. So, during times of nutritional stress, slightly taller giraffe ancestors could reach leaves above the reach of their competitors. Thus, they survived and passed the “tall gene” onto their offspring. Wood, W. F.; Weldon, P. J. (2002). "The scent of the reticulated giraffe ( Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata)". Biochemical Systematics and Ecology. 30 (10): 913–17. doi: 10.1016/S0305-1978(02)00037-6.

Giraffes spend up to half their time feeding and most of the remainder is taken up either by searching for food or slowly digesting what they have eaten. Sometimes giraffes sleep during the daytime, often while standing.Definition of CAMELOPARD". m-w.com. Encyclopædia Britannica: Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 25 April 2009 . Retrieved 3 September 2014.

The decline of giraffe populations has largely been due to hunting. In Africa, the giraffe is a traditional source of hide and hair and also of tough but nutritious meat. Tibor (2006). French Linguistic Influence in the Cotton Version of Mandeville's Travels. Tinta Könyvkiadó. p.113. ISBN 9789637094545. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023 . Retrieved 20 April 2021.a b Bond, Monica L.; Lee, Derek E.; Ozgul, Arpat; König, Barbara (27 August 2019). "Fission–fusion dynamics of a megaherbivore are driven by ecological, anthropogenic, temporal, and social factors". Oecologia. 191 (2): 335–347. Bibcode: 2019Oecol.191..335B. doi: 10.1007/s00442-019-04485-y. ISSN 1432-1939. PMID 31451928. S2CID 201732871. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023 . Retrieved 22 August 2023. Bond, Monica L.; König, Barbara; Ozgul, Arpat; Farine, Damien R.; Lee, Derek E. (2021). "Socially Defined Subpopulations Reveal Demographic Variation in a Giraffe Metapopulation". The Journal of Wildlife Management. 85 (5): 920–931. doi: 10.1002/jwmg.22044. ISSN 1937-2817. S2CID 233600744. Archived from the original on 8 March 2022 . Retrieved 8 April 2021.

a b Young, T. P.; Isbell, L. A. (1991). "Sex differences in giraffe feeding ecology: energetic and social constraints" (PDF). Ethology. 87 (1–2): 79–89. doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0310.1991.tb01190.x. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 May 2013 . Retrieved 2 February 2012. 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 Diet Giraffes usually inhabit savannahs and woodlands, where there are large amounts of foliage for them to feed on. Their coloring helps them to blend in with their surroundings, but they are so large that they are safer in numbers instead of trying to hide. Female giraffes are smaller, rarely reaching half that weight. Compared to other hoofed mammals the giraffe has a relatively short body, however, its legs are disproportionately long. Among the four choices are Kipekee, which means “unique” in Swahili – a fitting name for an exceedingly rare baby.Knappert, J (1987). East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania & Uganda. Vikas Publishing House. p.57. ISBN 978-0-7069-2822-8.

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Dagg, A. I. (1971). " Giraffa camelopardalis" (PDF). Mammalian Species (5): 1–8. doi: 10.2307/3503830. JSTOR 3503830. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 April 2017 . Retrieved 25 October 2011. Giraffe tongues are long, reaching around 20–21 in (50–53 cm) in length. Giraffe tongues and lips are tough and specially adapted to allow giraffes to forage on trees that other animals would avoid, such as acacias, which are very thorny. What colour is a giraffe’s tongue? Reality is richer than such explanations. The explanation may be coherent and logical, but what it explains is not the thing itself but a specter of it — the isolated aspect that has been abstracted from the whole organism. In reality, the organism as a whole evolves; all its parts are multifunctional, facilitating its interactions with its complex, changing environment. If we don’t consider all partial aspects within this larger context, we can only have inadequate explanations void of life.

Fun Facts about Giraffes

Clegg, A. (1986). "Some Aspects of Tswana Cosmology". Botswana Notes and Records. 18: 33–37. JSTOR 40979758. Because giraffes feed on vegetation that is high in the trees but also too woody for the mouths of smaller herbivores, they are also able to remain in areas where domestic grazing has obliterated the plant species close to the ground. What is a group of giraffes called?