Hechos sobre jirafas parte I
Actually, I don’t have a particular reason why I like giraffes. In fact, when I was in school, I didn’t like them because my classmates used to call me giraffe just because I was a little taller than them :P. But after looking more closely, I realized that they were very beautiful and interesting animals.
They are so incredible that there is a man who says they don’t exist…
Well… we all know they do exist… so I decided to write a small entry with some little facts about these not so little animals.
It seems that I’m not the only one that likes giraffes. Historically humanity has honored giraffes. They appear in cave paintings in Africa and in the artistic designs of ancient Egyptians.
Their scientific name is camelopardalis and is derived from Romans who described them as having characteristics of both camels and leopards (and even being a hybrid between the two!!!). Oh, the ancients who had a good imagination…
They are unique creatures, their anatomy is surprising. I don’t have to point out they are quite tall :P. Sometimes it is said that they are the tallest animals, or at least the tallest mammal. Anyway they are tall and very beautiful, imposing, they inspire respect when I see such a big animal (just one of their hind legs is much bigger than me!).
They measure between 5 and 6 meters, mainly due to the size of their neck and legs. The neck is approximately 2.4 meters long and despite their size, they have the same number of cervical vertebrae as most mammals, seven bones like us! (of course, they are bigger bones… but it’s still amazing!)
Despite their large size, they don’t seem to boast the power they seem to have, I love to watch them walk, they are so elegant. In fact, giraffe means “one who walks lightly”. They can also run at 50 km per hour, I imagine when they are trying to avoid being eaten by a lion
But they can’t run for long, they would suffer a heart attack (even though they have a wonderful blood pumping system… so that blood can reach their brain through their long neck). They also defend themselves and their young by kicking predators with their plate-sized hooves. (PLATE-SIZED!!!!).
When they are not running for their lives, they look very peaceful… and they actually are peaceful, at least much more than other species.
They are vegetarians, so their huge bodies are not used to carry out bloody killings for food, they are not territorial animals and are social, living in very loose herds, without leaders or strict coordination of the herd’s movement.
It seems that mostly females and young offspring live in herds, while not-so-young males are usually alone, searching for herds of females that contain possible mates.
I know… I know, it’s not that they are not violent… because males fight with their necks and horns (“necking”), usually for a female… but I also read that these battles rarely result in injuries… so it’s not so bad.
To be continued…