24/09/2022
Interesting facts about giraffes. A brief description of the giraffe
Interesting facts about giraffes. A brief description of the giraffe
It is important, since we all understand that the structure of the body depends on the conditions in which it was created. Scientists have found that giraffes appeared in the world more than twenty-five million years ago. Their remains are found almost throughout Eurasia and Africa. But wild giraffes can be seen far from everywhere where they grazed livestock at the beginning of history.
Distribution area
Today giraffes live in Africa. The population in its eastern part is more. In the southwestern regions, the animal is mostly exterminated, although a few groups are still found in the wilderness. All kinds of hunting that giraffes were carried out led to the fact that they can be seen in places where they had not grazed before. Therefore, some sources claim that they can be found in the west. This is not a very common place for them. In addition, giraffes travel to Chad, Sudan or Zambia. It is no longer possible to meet them in other places. So, it turns out that under natural conditions, giraffes live only in Africa.
giraffe habitat
There are several subspecies of this animal. This division is related to where the giraffes live. Therefore, it is very different from the wilderness. And those who grazed the mountains got used to the land in their own way. The fact is that the body structure of this miracle of nature allows him to get food from a great height. Some individuals can reach six meters in length. Since the animal only eats new shoots and leaves, it is where those plants are that it lives. The giraffe grabs a part of the plant with its tongue and squeezes it. This organ is highly developed and functionally compared to the trunk of an elephant. Investigating where giraffes live, scientists were surprised to see that they do not avoid the wilderness.
Design elements
Their neck is known to be long. Based on its appearance, one can assume that its structure is different from other mammals. Not only. A giraffe has seven vertebrae, like everyone else. Therefore, it seems impossible for these animals to eat the grass that grows under their hooves. However, when there is no fresh growth left on the trees, giraffes in the savanna fully enjoy fresh grass. Drink or collect food from the ground, animals have a hard time. They fold their front legs and fit completely on the ground. So you can spray the plants and drink a little water.
How often do these animals drink?
Where do you study giraffes live? The question of the need for moisture for the correct implementation of all processes in their organisms is quite natural. It is clear that in Africa many places are very dry. Giraffes feel comfortable there. They meet most of their water needs at the expense of the moisture contained in the food (up to 74%). Therefore, it is often found in dry areas. Animals can go without a watering hole for up to several days. They roam the area in small groups (of five or six people) looking for food. I must say that giraffes are not immune at all, as one might imagine.
Sense organs in times of danger
Giraffes have very good eyes, and the neck helps to increase the view of the area. The animal sees the hunter at a distance of at least two kilometers. If danger is approaching, then the animals gather in a large group. Males, whose weight is important, make full use of their hooves to repel predators. From their blow, even a lion can be left not only without dinner, but also without life.
Giraffes also have the ability to hear. If any sound sounds dangerous, they may run away. With apparent ignorance, animals can develop good speed. They run on a large scale (up to five meters). Interestingly, short animals (zebras, okapis) used to use animals with long necks as guards. Because of growth, giraffes perceive danger faster than all others. Where this animal lives, protection from predators is provided. If there is "tooth death" nearby, then they all run together.
How to get used to the heat?
All in one way or another cope with life in high temperatures. Giraffes have their own traditions in this regard. They graze at dawn and early in the morning. When the heat starts, they rest in the shade, chewing gum. Light sand color skin allows not to overheat under the action of the sun.
Animals do not have problems with heat. In addition, they are considered very difficult. Nineteenth century hunters believed (with good reason) that the horse was the first to tire in a long race. And the giraffes continue their good run. By the way, all their movements seem like slow motion. All giraffes are tall. He carefully coordinates their movements. Therefore, the stage turns into a kind of cosmic: long and multidimensional. When running, the giraffe helps itself by moving its neck.
How giraffes sleep
It may seem that it is not so easy for a one-necked animal to get used to resting. But it's not. At night, giraffes sleep on their stomachs. They beat their limbs under themselves, they try to keep their heads up. But during sleep, the neck can bend, then the back of the head hangs on the back of the animal. Giraffes often jump on their feet to check the "safety margin". This is correct, as predators hunt at night. Often the victims are young children. The older generation protects them in the first year of life. Interestingly, giraffes can gather young people from different families in groups, forming a kind of nursery.
This makes them easy to maintain.
Can it survive in captivity?
The first giraffes appeared in Europe more than three hundred years ago. But for a long time they could not exist in captivity. They developed a bone problem called giraffe disease. Most likely, animals need constant movement. In its absence, the skeletal system suffers. When people learned how to care for these amazing animals, they had the opportunity to study their reproductive characteristics. So, it happened that the fetus grows in forty-three days. The birth was the most amazing. A child, when born, falls almost from a height of two meters. At the same time, its weight can reach sixty kilograms. The child has no problem with such extremes. After about half an hour, he is already up. Then he goes to his mother to eat milk. He can eat adult food in three weeks.
Giraffe (Twiga camelopardalis) belongs to the order of ruminant artiodactyls, family giraffidae. The giraffe is the tallest animal in the world. Its height is approximately equal to the height of a two-story house. An adult male can reach a height of 6 m, and weight from 550 to 1800 kg. This mammal lives in Africa, south of the Sahara Desert, in grasslands and bushes where individual trees and tall bushes grow, the leaves of which feed giraffes.
The giraffe has a very attractive appearance: a beautiful bright color, long thin legs, a long neck, at the end of which there is a small head with large ears and small horns. Both male and female have horns with rounded tips and are covered with soft wool. Giraffe horns are bony parts and look small, but their length is 25 cm. Some males grow a second pair of horns, behind the main one, and there is another on the forehead. In addition, he has large eyes, with long eyelashes.
Like all mammals, the giraffe's neck has only seven cervical vertebrae, but it is elevated. No land animal has a neck like a giraffe. Thanks to him, the five-meter giant, like a guard, rises above the savannah. Thanks to him, he reaches the acacia leaves at the top. It plucks these leaves with its long and ugly tongue. (Because male giraffes are 1 meter taller than females, they eat leaves at different heights and thus do not compete for food.)
The heart of a giraffe weighs 12 kg. According to calculations, in order to supply the animal's brain with oxygen, its heart should pump blood to the head under high pressure - 300 mm Hg. Art. (for comparison: a person has normal pressure - 120 mm Hg. Art.). And when the animal lowers its head, then, according to all calculations, a strong pressure drop in the brain should be created that cannot last. How do giraffes cope?
The answer has been found. Giraffes have thicker blood than other mammals and have more blood cells. Therefore, each cubic milliliter of blood carries more oxygen needed by the brain, and it is easier to pump it up. When the giraffe's blood pressure was measured, it was 200 mm Hg. Art., And with a sharp tilt of the head, the pressure drops only to 175 mm Hg. Art. The main point of this is the presence of special closing valves that are located in the large jugular vein. It is this complex organ that acts as a "depot" of blood and balances the pressure in the brain.
The length of the tail is about 1 m, at the tip there is a hair brush. When the giraffe is not moving, it is not visible among the trees. Due to spots on the skin, it can be mistaken for an old cracked tree, and long legs - for trees. The skin of a giraffe emits a very bad smell, which allows the animal to escape from insects.
Giraffes have good eyesight and hearing. And because of his high growth, he also sees far, which allows him to detect approaching insects in time. If danger threatens, then the giraffe leaves very quickly and runs away.
Giraffes have been admired since ancient times. And Arab rulers gave this animal as a gift as a symbol of peace and harmony. There is a misconception that giraffes do not communicate. In fact, they talk to each other with the help of crying and murmuring, and the children whistle.
Giraffes run very fast. It can reach speeds of up to 60 km/h. This is enough to hide from the movements of a fierce enemy like a lion.
Giraffes feed in small groups of up to 50 individuals. A herd consists of a male and several females and children. There are strong ranks within the group. Despite the peaceful appearance, male giraffes fight every year, knowing who is in charge. Standing side by side with their legs spread apart, the drummers swing their heads softly and with all their might beat their bent necks together. The men test their strength by clashing their necks until finally one of them overpowers the enemy and chases him away, but the vanquished is never removed from the herd. The sounds of the blows can be heard hundreds of meters away, it sounds like a tree is being cut down.
Puberty occurs in 4 years. Once every 2 years, after a short courtship, the female gives birth to only one child. The gestation period is from 420 to 450 days. The baby weighs 50-70 kg and reaches a height of more than 2 m. Half an hour after birth, the baby can already stand on its feet. The remaining members of the group surround the mother and greet the child, touching it with their noses. 10 days after birth, the female and the cub join the herd. Giraffes are among the few animals that are born with horns. The cartilaginous horns still hang at the sides. In the first month, he adds 23 cm per week in height. By the end of the first year, the giraffe is stretched to 3.5 meters.
Life expectancy is about 25 years in nature and over 30 years in captivity. Adult giraffes have almost no enemies, moreover, they can fight even lions with their hooves. Lions can only deal with a very young giraffe that has strayed from the herd, and even then, if its mother is not around, otherwise they are threatened with a strong blow and hoof. In addition, nature gave the giraffe a camouflage color so that when the giraffe stands in a group of acacia umbrellas, among the burned forests of the African bush, under the rays of the hot sun, the mosaic of shadows and the sun seems to melt, eat. on the animal terrace. When a giraffe stands motionless, it can be mistaken for an old split tree; when the giraffe's body is hidden by the branches of bushes, its long legs appear to be tree trunks.
Giraffes come in a variety of colors, but are mostly yellow-brown with dark spots that are evenly distributed throughout the body.
The famous Masai giraffe and giraffe. The first main color is yellow-red, chocolate brown spots are scattered over it. In the second, the spots are almost connected, and the resulting yellow stripes look like a golden grid. The Nubian giraffe has black polygons separated by a thin light-colored grid. The Baringo giraffe has spots and a black star-shaped center. The Kenyan giraffe has irregularly shaped spots with sinuous curves. The southern giraffe has dark spots and a smooth outline. The texture of a giraffe's coat varies from individual to individual and darkens with age. Each giraffe has its own unique pattern on the skin, which can be used as something like identification.
During the dry season, the long neck and front legs allow the giraffe to reach the treetops. With the help of their long tongues - up to 45 cm - sticky black, they catch these leaves and remove them from the branch. Eating enough good leaves, giraffes can go without water for weeks. During summer, these animals can eat thorny shoots.
It is difficult for a giraffe to drink from a pool because of its long neck. The front legs of the giraffe are longer than the hind legs; due to this unique physical feature, they are forced to spread their legs wide or kneel to drink.
Giraffes are vegetarians. The giraffe's favorite tree, the acacia umbrella, tries to protect itself by growing long spines, but the hard mouths of these animals do not care! They feed early in the morning and in the evening, and spend the hottest part of the day lying down, standing in the shade among the trees. It is very difficult for them to get up on their feet from the ground, so giraffes even sleep standing with their heads on their backs. But their sleep does not last more than 20 minutes a day, for short periods - 3-4 minutes each.
Giraffes never swim, and even try not to cross the streams and rivers they come across because they don't like moisture. They are waiting for the rain, standing under the trees.
In the tropical forests of the Congo, the second species of the giraffe family lives - the okapi: also a carnivorous animal that eats the leaves of trees. The okapi is a shy loner, escaping with little scraps and foraging at night. It is not surprising that the Europeans learned about it only in 1897 from the words of the pygmies who said about the forest horse; they called him "okapi". Only in 1901, when the skin and skull of the animal was sent to London, the okapi was described as a new species. But even today, few have seen okapi in nature.
Giraffes are also endangered and protected. Their numbers are being increased arbitrarily as part of the European Endangered Species Program.
Giraffe (Giraffe camelopardalis)
Value Body length 3-4 m, tail - 0.9-1.1 m, head length 4.5-5.8 m; weight of 500-800 kg
sign Long legs and neck; on the head there are 2-5 "horns" covered with skin (pieces of bone); light yellow to brown fur with white and black spots or a grid of fine white stripes (Maasai Giraffe)
Nutrition Buds, leaves, stems and fruits of trees and shrubs; sometimes plants
reproduction Pregnancy 14.5-16.5 months; Child 1, rarely 2; birth weight 95-100 kg
residence Savannah with rare trees and shrubs; in the sub-Saharan region from West to East Africa, and also South Africa
The giraffe is the fourth largest land animal; only elephants, hippos and rhinos are bigger than giraffes. Large males reach a height of 5.9 m at the crown and 3.7 m at the withers and weigh approx. 2 t (average of about 5.2 m, 3 m and about 1 t). Females are on average small: about 4.4 m to the crown, 2.7 m at the withers and a weight of 600 kg. The giraffe's tail, about 1 m long, ends in a tassel of black hair.
A wool cover.
The giraffe's skin is heavily covered with small and large spots from brown to almost black, which are separated by thin intervals of yellow or white color. The shape of the spots is not normal, with smooth or smooth edges, but on the body of everyone, as a rule, they are of the same type. A hard brown mane 12 cm long grows on the neck.
Neck bones.
Although the giraffe's neck exceeds 1.5 meters in length, there are only seven cervical vertebrae, like many other mammals, including humans. However, each cervical vertebrae is very elevated; in addition, the first thoracic vertebra (next to the cervical) is also modified and closely resembles the cervical.
Blood pressure.
For blood to flow from the heart upwards to the brain, high blood pressure is required. When the animal's head is raised, this pressure at the level of the brain is the same as in other large mammals. However, when lowering the head, the pressure in it can increase dangerously if the giraffe's brain is not protected by a special vascular structure. There are two of them, and both are under the skull: here the blood pressure is turned off in a "wonderful network" (rete mirabile) of narrow interconnected veins, and the valves in the veins allow blood to flow only inside. one direction (to the heart), preventing it from returning to the brain.
Horns.
Both males and females have a pair of short, blunt horns covered with skin on their heads. In men, they are larger and longer - up to 23 cm. Sometimes there is also a third horn, on the forehead, approximately between the eyes; in men it is more common and more developed. The two bony bones in the upper part of the occiput, to which the cervical muscles and ligaments are connected, can also grow strongly, similar to the corners of the frame, which are called posterior, or occipital. In some people, usually in old men, all three true horns and two hind horns are well developed; they are called "five-horned" giraffes. Sometimes in older men, another bone growth is observed in the skull.
Attractions.
Giraffes have two main ways: walk and run. In the first case, the animal goes to amble, i.e. alternately bringing two legs forward, first on one side, then on the other side of the body. the shot looks bad; the back and front legs cross at the same time, but the speed reaches 56 km / h. When running, the neck and head of the giraffe shake violently, writing, as it were, the figure of eight, and the tail hangs from side to side, or is lifted up and twisted over the back.
Vision
The giraffe is fiercer than any other African mammal, with the possible exception of the cheetah. In addition, the large magnification allows you to see objects at a very long distance.
Food and water.
Giraffes are hunting animals, like cattle. They have a four-chambered stomach, and their jaws are constantly chewing—chewed food that is removed from the first stomach chamber by re-chewing. The giraffe's diet consists almost exclusively of young stems of trees and shrubs. Apparently, he prefers thorny acacia, but he often also eats mimosa, wild apricots and some shrubs, and, if necessary, he can eat fresh grass.
Giraffes can go without water for weeks, maybe months.
Activity.
Giraffes are diurnal animals, they are more active in the morning and evening. They wait for the peak of the day's heat, either with their necks down or their heads on a tree branch, or lying down, usually with their necks and heads up, to watch for danger. The giraffe sleeps at night, but only for a few minutes at a time; The duration of deep sleep in general, apparently, does not exceed 20 minutes per night. A sleeping giraffe sleeps with its neck bent so that its head rests on the lower part of its hind limb.
Social behavior and location.
Giraffes usually live alone (especially large males) or in small easily formed groups of two to ten animals, rarely in large groups of up to 70 individuals. Herds can be mixed (males, females, young), bachelor (only young or mature males only), or includes females and youth. Giraffe sounds are typical of large herbivores - from snorts and lows to grunts and growls.
The fight.
Giraffes are very peaceful and even timid animals, but males fight among themselves for leadership, and animals of both sexes encounter predators if they cannot escape from them.
