Are you curious to learn some weird and wonderful facts about giraffes?
If so, excellent! You are in exactly the right place my friend…
It’s time to chat about giraffe facts.
Let’s dive right in…
Facts About Giraffes
1 – The giraffe is the tallest living mammal.
2 -Giraffes are herbivores and eat leaves, fruit, flowers, and bark.
3 – Giraffes have a long tongue that can reach up to 20 inches in length.
4 -A baby giraffe weighs about 150 pounds at birth.
5 – Male giraffes use their necks as weapons during fights with other males or when defending territory.
More Facts About Giraffes
6 – Female giraffes give birth standing up – the baby falls into an open space between mom’s front legs.
7 – Scientists believe giraffes developed their long necks to reach leaves from trees in Africa.
8 – A baby giraffe can stand up within 15 minutes of being born.
9 – The word “giraffe” comes from the Arabic word ‘zarafa’ which means ‘fast walker.’
10 – Giraffes have a life span of 25-30 years.
More Facts About Giraffes
11 – A group of giraffes is called a “tower” or a “herd.”
12 – A giraffe’s tongue is about 18 inches long.
13 – A male giraffe can weigh up to 2,700 pounds and stand over 19 feet tall.
14 – The average life span of a giraffe is around 25 years in captivity or 15-20 years in the wild.
15 – Giraffes eat about 75 pounds of leaves per day.
More Facts About Giraffes
16 – The word “giraffe” comes from the Arabic word “zarafa,” meaning “fast walker.”
17 – A giraffe’s neck is so long that it can eat leaves off of trees up to 12 feet away!
18 – Giraffes are born with spots, which disappear as they grow older and their skin darkens in color.
19 – Giraffes have a unique pattern on their tongues that acts like a fingerprint and helps them identify each other by taste!
20 – Giraffes have no vocal cords because they don’t need them; instead, they communicate through grunts and snorts.
More Facts About Giraffes
21 – In ancient times, people thought that giraffes had horns because of their tufted hair on top of their heads
22 – Male giraffes have been known to fight each other for dominance by head .butting one another until one falls over, after which the winner will mate with all the females in the herd Male giraffes fight each other by swinging their heads at each other with their necks fully extended.
23 – The giraffe’s scientific name is “Giraffa camelopardalis.”
24 – There are nine different subspecies of giraffe, including Rothschild’s (found in Kenya), Masai (found in Tanzania), Angolan (found in Angola) and South African (found in South Africa).
25 – A female giraffe is called a cow and male is bull.
BONUS FACTS:
The average giraffe’s heart rate is 40-60 beats per minute.
Giraffes have blue tongues and red blood cells because they eat so many leaves, which contain a lot of oxygen.
A giraffe can go for weeks without drinking water due to its large tongue that collects dew from plants it eats.
You can tell what a giraffe has been eating by looking at its droppings – grass makes pellets, while bushes make long strings of greenish brown material.
Giraffes have one of the most powerful kicks in all of nature.
