Giraffe

Scientific Name : Giraffa camelopardalis

The giraffe is the tallest member of the animal kingdom, with adults averaging a height of around five metres. Males can be told from females by the bald tops to their horns. The giraffe’s unique form is the result of some remarkable adaptations and has enabled it to exploit a food niche not utilised by other herbivores - the foliage on the uppermost branches of trees. Giraffe have an unusual social system in which females live apart from males in home ranges of about 25 square kilometres. The males may be solitary, but usually congregate in bachelor herds. Their large size is a deterrent to most predators, but lions are capable of toppling fully-grown adults and some prides actually select them as prey. A single calf is born and although mothers put up a stern defence against predators such as lion and spotted hyena, less than a quarter of young survive their first year. Giraffe are selective browsers, favouring various species of Acacia, Balanites, Commiphora and Ziziphus, some of which have evolved chemical defences and release unpalatable tannins when over-browsed. The thick blueish tongue is able to wrap around even the thorniest of twigs to remove nutritious foliage. There are seven distinct forms of giraffe, each of which is regarded as a sub-species. The southern giraffe occupies the area south of the Zambezi, while the Maasai giraffe occurs in Tanzania and southern Kenya. Most distinctive of all, is the beautifully-patterned reticulated giraffe of the semi-arid savanna of central and northern Kenya.