Untitled Document
 Giraffes
are beautiful animals. They are one of the world's tallest mammals.
The word "giraffe" means "the tallest of them all"
and comes from the Arabic word "zirafah."
Giraffes can be found in central, eastern and southern Africa.
Giraffes are well-known for their long necks, long legs, and spotted patterns. They have
small horns on top of their heads that
grow to be about 13 centimeters long. These horns are used to protect the head in fights.
Female giraffes typically give birth to one calf after a 15-month gestation period. During
the first week of its life, the mother carefully protects her calf.
Young giraffes are very weak and cannot defend themselves. While mothers feed, the young are kept
in small nursery groups.
Male giraffes are larger
than females. Males can be 4.8 to 5.5 meters tall and weight up to
1,360 kilograms. The record-sized male was 5.87 meters tall and weighed
about 2,000 kilograms! Females are generally slightly shorter and weigh
less than the males do. Female giraffes weigh 725-1,180 kilograms
and grow to be 4.8 meters tall.
Giraffes live in the savannas of Africa, where
they roam freely among the tall
trees. Their long necks help them eat leaves from tall trees. Giraffes
only eat plants.
Their favorite plant is the acacia
tree. If they need to, giraffes can go for several days without water.
Instead of drinking, giraffes
get water from leaves. Giraffes sometimes sit and often lie down to sleep. But they
only sleep for a few minutes at a time, the most being
20 minutes. Healthy giraffes live about 25 years in the wild. |
|
|
|
