Giraffes are peculiar creatures. Standing up to 19 feet tall, with super long necks and legs, reaching high into the treetops for acacia leaves, this is one of those creatures that makes you wonder what the heck God was thinking when He created it.
Giraffes are herbivores, eating leaves at the tops of trees that most animals cannot reach. They live on most of the African continent (and yes, you see them in almost every zoo around the world). Giraffes are the tallest terrestrial mammal - their legs alone are over six feet long, which is taller than most humans.
Even their tongues appear to have been on the rack. The average giraffe tongue is 21 inches long, and bluish in color. These flexible leaf grabbers help giraffes grab food from thorny branches or large amounts of hay, as you can see in the picture above.
Having long legs and along neck also allows a giraffe to spot and flee from predators, such as lions. A giraffe can sprint at 35 mph and with such amazing height they can spot something coming. Chances are you will not see this in the wild:
There is a big downside to this height. A giraffe has a lot of trouble drinking at a water hole. Their heart is specially formulated to pump massive amounts blood all the way up to the head, and the giraffe can have a blood rush when its head lowers. To properly drink water, giraffes must spread their legs apart to reach the water hole, and are very vulnerable at this time. It also takes a giraffe a very long time to get up from the ground, should it lie down. This makes it a sitting target. Thankfully, they only need one drink of water every few days - they get the rest of the moisture
they needs from their food. Yikes, that makes me thirsty even just thinking about it!
Thank you to animals.nationalgeographic.com for the giraffe facts.
But, do they have vocal chords? It's true that in the many, many times I have visited a zoo, the giraffe barn is probably the quietest place in the whole menagerie, and I have never heard giraffes utter a peep. Like other animals, giraffes only have seven cervical vertebrae, although they are much longer, of course. But are there any vocal chords in there?
According to the San Diego Zoo, yes! Here is what their website has to say:
"Although they do possess vocal chords, giraffes vocalize much less than [their closest relative] Okapi" (Apfelbach, et al).
Some vocalizations that have been observed include:
-an "alarm snort"
-mewing (bleating) from calves
-a "roaring bellow" from females looking for lost young
-males making a "raucous cough" during courtship
-various snoring, hissing, moaning, and flutelike sounds (Apfelbach, et al).
So in essence, Snapple does not have their facts straight on this one. You will find arguments for either side all over the internet, yet I am more willing to believe zoological sites over places like ask.com.
As a kid, I tired to imagine what it would be like to ride a giraffe. I had a toy giraffe I played with and I would make my dolls ride it (still have the giraffe, ditched dolls pretty early on in life). For all the time I have spent at zoos, giraffes have never been my favorite exhibit. First off, the barns stink to high heaven. keep in mind I am someone who is not bothered by the smell of horse manure! Second, giraffes typically don't move much. With those long legs, I am not sure I would either. I have always had a bigger interest in horses or anything that resembles them. Elephants, dolphins, penguins, seals, and otters always seem to grab my attention more. Yet there was this one time that that they really grabbed my attention.
It was 2010, my last summer living with my family, and my mom and I took a trip to the zoo. While we were there, the giraffes were being moved from their outdoor pasture to the barn. To do this, keepers must block off the path with gates and usher them through, either with treats or just good training. A picture of the process is below:
Once in the barn enclosure the giraffes found bunches of leaves tied to the fencing, so they would get a little enrichment, along with a snack. While the zoo guests could not get super close to the fence, it was closer than any of us had been before. I was about four feet from the giraffes while they snacked, and that is about as close as a visitor to this zoo can come (the outdoor enclosure is a large pit with lots of fencing and ravines between the people and the animals. You can only see the animals from a great distance). There was something about being so close to these normally silent beauties that just gave the area a sense of peace. Something about giraffes seems very calming.
Resources:
"Giraffe, Giraffa camelopardalis." National Geographic. National Geographic, n.d. Web. 27 Feb 2014. <http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/giraffe/>.
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