The giraffe is the tallest animal living onEarth Male reaches height from 4.9 to 5.5 meters. The highest representative of this family had a height of 5.85 m. The word "giraffe" comes from the Arabic term, meaning "high." And the Latin name is the result of the belief that the giraffe was born from mixing a camel with a leopard. Ostensibly from the camel he got an amazing speed of running and endurance, and from the leopard - spots on the skin. In addition, he has some and other specific features, among which it is necessary to note the language of the giraffe - its length is almost 50 cm!
In order that the blood could reach through a verylong neck of the head, this animal needs a strong heart, which has a weight of about 12 kg. This is more than any other animal living on Earth. In the brain of giraffes, there are special vessels that work to prevent fainting if the giant suddenly lifts its head very sharply.
If these animals are kept in a zoo, thenits height surpasses not only all its neighbors, but also some buildings. In this regard, they are most often subjected to lightning strikes during thunderstorms. In the wild, giraffes live among trees that are larger than themselves. This is the safest environment for animals, and lightning does not happen too often in savannas - their habitats.
Giraffe description: neck
Although this animal is very differentlong neck, it has exactly the same number of cervical vertebrae as a person, that is, seven. However, the connections between these vertebrae are very flexible. Giraffes sometimes stand in front of each other and try to strike a neck. This can be either a gesture of friendship, or part of a battle.
Giraffe tongue
This tall animal has a very specific one.First, a long one - 45-50 cm. If there are not enough long legs and neck to get tasty food or a leaf that grows high from a tree, the giant helps himself with his tongue. The tongue of the giraffe is also a good tool to drive insects away from the muzzle.
The animal is not picky: loves all kinds of plants, but some of them are full of thorns. Because of this, the tongue is strong and firm, due to which it is not particularly damaged after ingestion of dangerous food.
Giant horns
These organs are made up of cartilage tissue, the samewhich gives shape to our nose, but a little harder. The horns are under the skin. In females they are shorter than in males, and, as a rule, have several hairs at the top.
Features giraffe: food
Giraffes live in open areas where trees(these are, as a rule, acacias) are located at large distances from each other. Just like cows, animals love to taste the leaves only after a while. That is, they are partially digested, getting into the stomach, and then sent back to the mouth (the giraffe causes a gag reflex). Thus, the food enters the mouth a second time, the animal chews it more carefully, after which it enters other parts of the stomach. Because of this, these giants, like cows, are classified as “ruminants”.
They can live quite comfortablyterritories along with other herbivores, because the latter do not feed on the leaves that grow on treetops, which the giraffe's tongue can reach. However, if farmers destroy nearby trees, these animals face death from starvation. Despite the fact that giraffes are under protection, in some parts of Africa, their numbers are inexorably falling.
Other facts
Description of the giraffe must be supplementedthe fact that these animals sleep very little - only two hours a day. As a rule, these are very quiet animals, but in fact they emit many different sounds: they cough, sniff, bleat, whistle ... Some sounds made by giraffes are not audible to the human ear.
These animals belong to the giraffe family.Today there are only two species belonging to this family: the giraffe itself and the okapi are a beautiful animal with stripes on its feet, like a zebra, and at the same time the only mammal that can lick its own ears! But the length of the tongue of an adult giraffe is still much greater than the Okapi language.
If necessary, giraffes can very quicklyrun. Thanks to the long legs can reach speeds of even 55 km / h. Also interesting is the way of running, it is completely different than most of four-legged animals. The latter, while running, simultaneously push forward the front right leg and the left hind foot, and then the front left leg and the back right leg. If the giraffe tried to run like this, it would immediately stumble! Therefore, he has another technique: he pushes forward two left legs, then two right, and so on.
