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Giraffe Fun Facts
& Brain Squeezers
Mammals > Giraffe > Fun Facts & Brain Squeezers
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 Brain Squeezer Answers 
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Giraffe Home Page
    BRAIN SQUEEZER:  Can you guess what "zirafah" means?
      Answer:  It means "the tallest of all."

    Okapi, the giraffe's only living relative...

Habitat & Geographic Distribution
    Sub-Saharan Africa is the part of Africa that is south of the Sahara Desert.

    Rinderpest, known as "cattle plague," is a deadly viral illness that affects mainly cattle but also the African buffalo, giraffe, eland, and kudu.

    A savanna is dry grassland with trees scattered here and there.  It is sort of halfway between a grassland and a forest.  It is very hot.  There is a rainy season and a very long dry season.  Often there is a rainforest nearby.

    A riparian forest is a forest by a riverbank or other body of water.

Physical Description
    A browser is a vegetarian animal that feeds, or grazes, on leaves, young shoots and twigs rather than grass (although giraffes will occasionally eat very tall grass.)

    BRAIN SQUEEZER:  Can you guess which animal is the second tallest?
      Answer:  → The elephant is the second tallest animal on Earth.  African elephants are taller than Indian elephants.  The tallest elephant on record was 13 feet at the shoulder. ←

    A giraffe's tongue is 18 to 20 inches long, pink/blue-black in color, and it's prehensile... more about this later.

    BRAIN SQUEEZER:  How many bones in a giraffe's neck?  (Hint:  There are seven in your stumpy little neck.)
      Answer:  → Seven, the same as yours -- his are just a whole lot bigger! ←

    His tail is 8 feet long, including the tuft of hair at the end.

    Experts disagree about how many giraffe subspecies there really are, but definitely these nine:  Reticulated (Somali); Masai (Kilimanjaro); Rothschild's (Baringo) (Ugandan); West African (Nigerian); Southern; Angolan (Smoky); Thornicroft (Rhodesian); Kordofan, and Nubian.

    The horns are called ossicones.

    BRAIN SQUEEZER:  What makes a giraffe's horns different from the horns you see on cows and other farm critters?
      Answer:  → Giraffe horns are covered with skin and hair. ←

Behavior
    "Loosely structured herd" means the makeup of the herd changes a lot.  At any moment, a giraffe can be in a group composed entirely of males or females or both; it can be large or small, its members young or old, and there is no clear leader.

    Unlike smaller animals, giraffes herds don't have to stay close together for protection.

    BRAIN SQUEEZER:  We know giraffes don't face as many dangers as smaller animals, but can you think of another reason their herds can spread out so far?  (Hint:  It has to do with their height.)
      Answer:  → Because they're so tall, they can see each other across long distances. ←

Giraffe Babies & Reproduction
    BRAIN SQUEEZER:  Can you guess how a baby giraffe makes its entrance into the world?
      Answer:  → It falls six feet and lands on its head! ←

    BRAIN SQUEEZER:  Sometimes the mother giraffe leaves the baby all by itself for a while, and it just sits quietly until she comes back.  Do you suppose a human baby would do that?  No way!  Can you guess why?
      Answer:  → Instinct -- something every animal is born with (humans included), but the survival instinct is much stronger and simpler in wild-animal babies.  After all, a human baby doesn't have to worry about becoming somebody's dinner! ←

Predators
    Only three animals hunt adult giraffes.  The lion is one of them...

    The crocodile is another...

    BRAIN SQUEEZER:  That's only two.  Can you guess the third?
      Answer:  → Man. ←

    A giraffe's front hoof is as big as a dinner plate (that's 10  inches!)

Diet
    Prehensile refers to specially adapted structures that have the ability to curl and be used something like our fingers; some monkeys have prehensile tails that help them swing from branch to branch, and giraffes use their prehensile upper lip and tongue to pick and choose which leaves they want to eat.

    BRAIN SQUEEZER:  Can you think of an animal that has a prehensile nose?
      Answer:  → An elephant has a prehensile nose.  The trunk is actually his nose and his upper lip.  The elephant can carry heavy things like logs by curling his trunk around them, and at the very tip he has two little projections that can carefully pick up very small objects, like peanuts.  (Have you ever had a baby grab your finger with his tiny fist?  An elephant can grab your finger with the tiny tip of his humongous nose.) ←

    Before you try the next Brain Squeezer, click here to see a supersized picture of some oxpeckers (also known as tick birds) hitching a ride on a giraffe (please be patient while it opens in a new window).

    BRAIN SQUEEZER:  Sometimes the only part of an oxpecker you can see is his tail feathers.  Can you guess where the rest of him might be hiding?
      Answer:  → He's on clean-up duty deep inside the ear of whatever large mammal he's working on. Eewwwwww! ←

    BRAIN SQUEEZER:  Besides doing a great job with their clean-up duties, tick birds can be life savers.  Can you guess how?
      Answer:  → They may react to approaching danger before the host mammal is aware of it, warning them and giving them a chance to get away. ←


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