Dictionary Definition
giraffe n : tallest living quadruped; having a
spotted coat and small horns and very long neck and legs; of
savannahs of tropical Africa [syn: camelopard, Giraffa
camelopardalis]
User Contributed Dictionary
Pronunciation
- (UK) /dʒɪˈɹɑːf/
- (US) /ʤəˈɻæf/, /dZ@"r\
Extensive Definition
The giraffe (Giraffa
camelopardalis) is an African even-toed
ungulate mammal, the
tallest of all land-living animal species, and the largest
ruminant. Males can be
4.8 to 5.5 metres
(16 to 18 feet)
tall and weigh up to 1,700 kilograms
(3,800 pounds). The
record-sized bull, shot in Kenya in 1934, was
5.87 m (19.2 ft) tall and weighed approximately
2,000 kg (4,400 lb). Females are generally
slightly shorter, and weigh less than the males do.
The giraffe is related to
deer and cattle, but is placed in a
separate family, the
Giraffidae,
consisting only of the giraffe and its closest relative, the
okapi. Its range extends
from Chad to
South
Africa.
Giraffes can inhabit savannas, grasslands, or open
woodlands. They prefer areas enriched with acacia growth. They drink large
quantities of water and, as a result, they can spend long periods
of time in dry, arid areas. When searching for more food they will
venture into areas with denser foliage.
Etymology
The species name camelopardalis (camelopard) is derived from its early Roman name, where it was described as having characteristics of both a camel and a leopard. The English word camelopard first appeared in the 14th century and survived in common usage well into the 19th century. The Afrikaans language retained it. 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.Taxonomy and evolution
Male giraffes are around
4.8-5.5 m (16-19 ft) tall at the horn tips, and
normally weigh 1300-1700 kg (2900-3800 lb)
Females are 30-60 cm (1-2 ft) shorter and weigh
about 200-400 kg (400-800 lb) less than males.
Giraffes have spots covering their entire bodies, except their
underbellies, with each giraffe having a unique pattern of
spots.
Horns
Both sexes have horns, although the horns of a female are smaller. The prominent horns are formed from ossified cartilage and are called ossicones. The appearance of horns is a reliable method of identifying the sex of giraffes, with the females displaying tufts of hair on the top of the horns, where as males' horns tend to be bald on top — an effect of necking in combat. Males sometimes develop calcium deposits which form bumps on their skull as they age, which can give the appearance of up to three further horns.Neck
Giraffes have long necks, which they use to browse the leaves of trees. They possess seven vertebrae in the neck (the usual number for a mammal) that are elongated. The vertebrae are separated by highly flexible joints. The base of the neck has spines which project upward and form a hump over the shoulders. They have anchor muscles that hold the neck upright.Legs and pacing
Giraffes also have slightly elongated forelegs, about 10% longer than their hind legs. The pace of the giraffe is an amble, though when pursued it can run extremely fast. It can not sustain a lengthy chase. Its leg length compels an unusual gait with the left legs moving together followed by right (similar to pacing) at low speed, and the back legs crossing outside the front at high speed. When hunting adult giraffes, lions try to knock the lanky animal off its feet and pull it down. Giraffes are difficult and dangerous prey though, and when attacked the giraffe defends itself by kicking with great force. A single well-placed kick from an adult giraffe can shatter a lion's skull or break its spine. Lions are the only predators which pose a serious threat to an adult giraffe.Circulatory system
Modifications to the giraffe's structure have evolved, particularly to the circulatory system. A giraffe's heart, which can weigh up to 10 kg (22 lb) and measure about 60 cm (2 ft) long, 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. 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. Conversely, the blood vessels in the lower legs are under great pressure (because of the weight of fluid pressing down on them). 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 which maintains high extravascular pressure in exactly the same way as a pilot's g-suit.Behaviour
Social structure and breeding habits
Female giraffes associate in groups of a dozen or so members, occasionally including a few younger males. Younger males tend to live in "bachelor" herds, with older males often leading solitary lives. Reproduction is polygamous, with a few older males impregnating all the fertile females in a herd. Male giraffes determine female fertility by tasting the female's urine in order to detect estrus, in a multi-step process known as the Flehmen response.Giraffes will mingle with the
other herbivores in the African bush. They are beneficial to be
around because of their height. A giraffe is tall enough to have a
much wider scope of an area and will watch out for
predators.
Reproduction
Giraffe gestation lasts between 14 and 15 months, after which a single calf is born. The mother gives birth standing up and the embryonic sack usually bursts when the baby falls to the ground. Newborn giraffes are about 1.8 m (6 ft) tall. Within a few hours of being born, calves can run around and are indistinguishable from a week-old calf; however, for the first two weeks, they spend most of their time lying down, guarded by the mother. The young can fall prey to lions, leopards, spotted hyenas, and wild dogs. It has been speculated that their characteristic spotted pattern provides a certain degree of camouflage. Only 25 to 50% of giraffe calves reach adulthood; the life expectancy is between 20 and 25 years in the wild and 28 years in captivity (Encyclopedia of Animals).Necking
As noted above, males often engage in necking, which has been described as having various functions. One of these is combat. Battles can be fatal, but are more often less severe. The longer the neck, and the heavier the head at the end of the neck, the greater the force a giraffe is able to deliver in a blow. It has also been observed that males that are successful in necking have greater access to estrous females, so the length of the neck may be a product of sexual selection.After a necking duel, a
giraffe can land a powerful blow with his head — occasionally
knocking a male opponent to the ground. These fights rarely last
more than a few minutes or end in physical harm.
Another function of necking is
affectionate and sexual, in which two males will caress and court
each other, leading up to mounting and climax. Same sex relations
are more frequent than heterosexual behaviour. In one area 94% of
mounting incidents were of a homosexual nature. The proportion of
same sex courtships varies between 30 and 75%, and at any given
time one in twenty males will be engaged in affectionate necking
behaviour with another male. Females, on the other hand, only
appear to have same sex relations in 1% of mounting
incidents.
Stereotypic behavior
Many animals when kept in captivity, such as in zoos, display abnormal behaviours. Such unnatural behaviours are known as stereotypic behaviours. In particular, giraffes show distinct patterns of stereotypic behaviours when removed from their natural environment. Due to a subconscious response to suckle milk from their mother, something which many human-reared giraffes and other captive animals do not experience, giraffes resort instead to excessive tongue use on inanimate objects.Due to the obvious social and
cultural discomfort associated with the addition of milk delivery
devices, animal enclosures are often enriched with other stimuli,
such as food and mental distractions (toys, scent markings etc.).
This operates as a distraction, removing the giraffe’s focus from
its instinctual tendencies towards suckling, resulting in tongue
lolling and licking of objects in close proximity.
Feeding and cleaning
The giraffe browses on the twigs of trees, preferring trees of the genus Mimosa; but it appears that it can live without inconvenience on other vegetable food. A giraffe can eat 63 kg (140 lb) of leaves and twigs daily. As ruminants, they first chew their food, swallow for processing and then visibly regurgitate the semi-digested cud up their necks and back into the mouth, in order to chew again. This process is usually repeated several times for each mouthful.A giraffe will clean off any
bugs that appear on its face with its extremely long tongue (about
45 cm/18 in). The tongue is tough on account of
the giraffe's diet, which can include thorns from the trees that
they eat. In Southern
Africa, giraffes feed on all acacias, especially Acacia
erioloba, and possess a specially-adapted tongue and lips that
are tough enough to withstand, or even ignore, the vicious thorns
of this plant.
Sleep
The giraffe has one of the shortest sleep requirements of any mammal, which is between 10 minutes and two hours in a 24-hour period, averaging 1.9 hours per day.Sounds
Giraffes are thought to be mute; however, although generally quiet, they have been heard to make various sounds. Courting males will emit loud coughs. Females will call their young by whistling or bellowing. Calves will bleat, moo, or make mewing sounds. In addition, giraffes will grunt, snort, hiss, or make strange flute-like sounds. Recent research has shown evidence that the animal communicates at an infrasound level.Conservation
Giraffes are hunted for their
hides, hair, and meat. In addition, habitat destruction also hurts
the giraffe. In the Sahel trees are cut
down for firewood and to make way for livestock. Normally, giraffes
are able to cope with livestock since they feed in the trees above
their heads. The giraffe population is increasingly shrinking in
West Africa. However, the populations in eastern and southern
Africa are stable and, due to the popularity of privately-owned
game ranches and sanctuaries (i.e.
Bour-Algi Giraffe Sanctuary), are expanding. The giraffe is a
protected species in most of its range. The total African giraffe
population has been estimated to range from 110,000 to 150,000.
Kenya (45,000), Tanzania (30,000), and Botswana (12,000), have the
largest national populations.
An unexpected danger to
giraffes in captivity is that, as they are typically the tallest
objects in a zoo, giraffes are at increased risk of being struck by
lightning. In the
wild, this hazard is reduced by the presence of trees; as well, the
giraffe's natural habitat range has an extremely low occurrence of
lightning -- NASA's satellite lightning detection system indicates
that the area receives an average of less than one cloud-to-ground
flash per square kilometre per year.
In art and culture
Giraffes can be seen in paintings, including the famous painting of a giraffe which was taken from Africa to China by Admiral Zheng He in 1414. The giraffe was placed in a Ming Dynasty zoo.The Medici
giraffe was a giraffe presented to Lorenzo
de Medici in 1486. It caused a great stir on its arrival in
Florence,
being reputedly the first living giraffe to be seen in Italy since the days
of Ancient
Rome. Another famous giraffe, called Zarafa, was brought
from Africa
to Paris in
the early 1800s and kept in a menagerie for 18
years.
Giraffe
is a novel by the author J M
Ledgard. The work concerns a true incident in which 49 giraffes
were slaughtered in the Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia) in
1975 following the suspected outbreak of disease amongst the group.
The novel contains extensive information about the species,
including the long history of European fascination with the beast
and its captivity in zoos.
Notable fictional giraffes
include:
- Toys "R" Us mascot Geoffrey Giraffe. He was originally portrayed as a cartoon giraffe but in the 2001 commercials he was portrayed as a real-life giraffe who talks; an animatronic version of Geoffrey the Giraffe (created by Stan Winston Studios), was voiced by Jim Hanks in commercials for radio and television.
- Longrack of the Transformers universes
- Girafarig from the Pokémon Franchise
- Melman from Madagascar
Giraffes have also appeared as
background characters in various other animated works such as
Dumbo and
The
Lion King''.
References
External links
- Video - Giraffe birth at the San Francisco Zoo
- Giraffes: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
- ARKive - images and movies of the giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis).
- Introduction to the history of the Giraffe in Middle Ages (French)
- Animal Diversity Web - Giraffa camelopardalis
- Giraffe Central web directory
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- PBS Nature: Tall Blondes (Giraffes)
- Giraffe Pictures and Observations
- Matt's World of Wicked Giraffes
- Mating System
- Giraffe Info Sheet
- Long-term suppression of fertility in female giraffe using the GnRH agonist deslorelin as a long-acting implant
giraffe in Afrikaans:
Kameelperd
giraffe in Amharic:
ቀጭኔ
giraffe in Arabic:
زرافة
giraffe in Asturian:
Xirafa
giraffe in Bengali:
জিরাফ
giraffe in Min Nan:
Tn̂g-ām-lo̍k
giraffe in Belarusian
(Tarashkevitsa): Жырафа
giraffe in Bosnian:
Žirafa
giraffe in Bulgarian:
Жираф
giraffe in Catalan:
Girafa
giraffe in Czech:
Žirafa
giraffe in Danish:
Giraf
giraffe in German:
Giraffe
giraffe in Estonian:
Kaelkirjak
giraffe in Modern Greek
(1453-): Καμηλοπάρδαλη
giraffe in Spanish: Giraffa
camelopardalis
giraffe in Esperanto:
Ĝirafo
giraffe in Persian:
زرافه
giraffe in Faroese:
Giraffur
giraffe in French:
Girafe
giraffe in Gan Chinese:
長頸鹿
giraffe in Scottish Gaelic:
Sioraf
giraffe in Hakka Chinese:
Chhòng-kiáng-lu̍k
giraffe in Korean:
기린
giraffe in Croatian:
Žirafa
giraffe in Ido:
Jirafo
giraffe in Indonesian:
Jerapah
giraffe in Zulu:
Indlulamithi
giraffe in Italian: Giraffa
camelopardalis
giraffe in Hebrew:
ג'ירף
giraffe in Georgian:
ჟირაფი
giraffe in Kazakh:
Керік
giraffe in Swahili
(macrolanguage): Twiga
giraffe in Haitian:
Jiraf
giraffe in Kurdish:
Hêştirga
giraffe in Latin:
Giraffa
giraffe in Lithuanian:
Žirafa
giraffe in Lingala:
Dikálá
giraffe in Lojban:
djirafa
giraffe in Hungarian:
Zsiráf
giraffe in Malay
(macrolanguage): Zirafah
giraffe in Dutch: Giraffe
(dier)
giraffe in Japanese:
キリン
giraffe in Norwegian:
Sjiraff
giraffe in Norwegian Nynorsk:
Sjiraff
giraffe in Narom:
Girafe
giraffe in Occitan (post
1500): Giraffa camelopardalis
giraffe in Polish:
Żyrafa
giraffe in Portuguese:
Girafa
giraffe in Romanian:
Girafă
giraffe in Russian:
Жираф
giraffe in Albanian:
Gjirafa
giraffe in Sicilian:
Giraffa
giraffe in Simple English:
Giraffe
giraffe in Slovak: Žirafa
štíhla
giraffe in Slovenian:
Žirafa
giraffe in Serbian:
Жирафа
giraffe in Finnish:
Kirahvi
giraffe in Swedish:
Giraff
giraffe in Tamil: ஒட்டகச்
சிவிங்கி
giraffe in Thai:
ยีราฟ
giraffe in Vietnamese: Hươu
cao cổ
giraffe in Tajik:
Зарофа
giraffe in Turkish:
Zürafa
giraffe in Ukrainian:
Жирафа
giraffe in Yiddish:
זשיראף
giraffe in Chinese:
长颈鹿