Behavior

PREDATORS

As the tallest animals to cross this planet’s surface, giraffes are surprisingly vulnerable to predators. Adult giraffes’ size intimidates many potential predators, so younger giraffes are more vulnerable. The giraffe’s most powerful protective asset is a powerful kick it gives with its front feet, with a force strong enough to kill a lion. Nature gave the giraffe several nonviolent characteristics that help it survive.

 

Height and Vision

The giraffe’s height is important to its survival. Besides making a giraffe appear to predators too big to tackle, the animal’s height, combined with its extremely acute long-range vision, enables it to detect predators from great distances. They have long legs as well as necks, and the unique way they run — both legs on each side leave the ground at the same time — gives giraffes an impressively long stride, allowing them to cover long distances quickly and without expending much energy.

 

 

FOOD

Giraffes use their height to good advantage and browse on leaves and buds in treetops that few other animals can reach (acacias are a favorite). Even the giraffe’s tongue is long! The 21-inch (53-centimeter) tongue helps them pluck tasty morsels from branches. Giraffes eat most of the time and, like cows, regurgitate food and chew it as cud. A giraffe eats hundreds of pounds of leaves each week and must travel miles to find enough food.

The giraffe’s height also helps it to keep a sharp lookout for predators across the wide expanse of the African savanna.

The giraffe’s stature can be a disadvantage as well—it is difficult and dangerous for a giraffe to drink at a water hole. To do so they must spread their legs and bend down in an awkward position that makes them vulnerable to predators like Africa’s big cats. Giraffes only need to drink once every several days; they get most of their water from the luscious plants they eat.

Female giraffes give birth standing up. Their young endure a rather rude welcome into the world by falling more than 5 feet (1.5 meters) to the ground at birth. These infants can stand in half an hour and run with their mothers an incredible ten hours after birth.

Giraffes have beautiful spotted coats. While no two individuals have exactly the same pattern, giraffes from the same area appear similar.

 

SLEEP

• Paradoxical or REM sleep is common among giraffes as well as many other mammals during their regular sleep cycles. This REM sleep is associated with a change in EEG activity, which sometimes results in twitching of the extremities, eye movements and temporary paralysis from muscular atony, for short periods of time. Because of this and the difficulty associated with changing position from lying down to standing, giraffes are very vulnerable to their predators while sleeping.
• Giraffes appear awkward but they are actually very graceful animals in complete control of their bodies. They usually sleep while standing but occasionally lie down to sleep. When giraffes are resting while standing upright, they lay their heads against a hind leg, forming an arch. Older giraffes more often sleep standing up because it is difficult for them to rise after lying down. While lying down, giraffes will fold their legs and rest their head along their rump. Sometimes they will lay their head in the notch of an available tree.
• Sponsored Links
  • Compare Your Options

Position While Sleeping

Find out Who’s Who In Business Analytics. Get The Free Report.

www.gooddata.com

Length of Sleep

• The giraffe is very large and the tallest of all the animals. Surprisingly, it is also one of the few that requires little sleep. The average giraffe sleeps only about two hours a day. This sleep is usually in the form of naps of only a few minutes and periods of deeper sleep averaging five minutes. When taking short naps, it will often keep one eye open and constantly move its large, eight-inch ears to stay alert for predators.
• Giraffes are even more at risk when lying down because standing back up is a difficult and lengthy procedure. They must swing their neck back and forth to attain a kneeling position, swing their neck vigorously forward to get on their hind legs and then remove the weight from their front legs to hoist themselves back up. Giraffes use safety strategies to lessen the likelihood of being attacked by an enemy while sleeping. A herd of giraffes will sleep in a star-shape pattern, with each sleeping animal facing a different direction. One giraffe will stand guard while the others are sleeping, and the rest will sustain deep sleep only for very short intervals.

Safety Strategies While Sleeping