I always wanted to be a pink giraffe...

A good guide line to follow ;o)

We, MKs, love African animals especially giraffes! Ashlyn always reminds me of them, both are tall, graceful, have a hard time gaining weight, and always have their heads in the clouds (Get it...?)! Giraffes are really cool animals. Did you know that the “giraffe has intrigued various cultures, both ancient and modern, for its peculiar appearance, and has often been featured in paintings, books, and cartoons?” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giraffe) “Well, you know it now, and don’t you forget it.” (Odyssey) In this blog I would like to answer the three most commonly asked questions about giraffes.  1. Where is there habitat? 2. What is their physical characteristics? And 3. What is there diet? I hope you will learn a little more about these amazing animals. 

  

Giraffes lives in Africa, south of the Sahara Desert. Giraffes usually inhabit savannas, grasslands, and open woodlands. But they do best in dry savannah areas like Kenya! So yes we do enjoy seeing them around here. The giraffe's scattered range extends from Chad in the north to South Africa in the south, and from Niger in the west to Somalia in the east. (Pretty much all of Africa)

Fully grown giraffes stand 16–20 feet tall, with males taller than females. Just think a giraffe can look into a second-story window without even standing on his tippy-toes! :o) The average weight is 2,628 lb for an adult male and 1,825 lb for an adult female. (Ooh, I think someone needs to join weight watchers!) Despite its long neck and legs, the giraffe's body is relatively short. Some people think that the back legs look shorter than the front legs, but they are about the same length.  Located at both sides of the head, the giraffe's large, bulging eyes give it good all-round vision from its great height. Giraffes see in color and their senses of hearing and smell are also sharp. One time someone told me that a giraffe can have half of his body sleeping at one time, and the other half keeping watch. This animal can close its muscular nostrils to protect against sandstorms and ants. The giraffe's tongue is about 20 in long. It is purplish-black in color, some people say it’s to protect against sunburn, and is useful for grasping foliage, as well as for grooming and cleaning the animal's nose. (Now don’t you wish you had that ability?)  The lips, tongue, and inside of the mouth are covered in papillae to protect against thorns. (Very handy, since they eat trees and bushes with thorns.) The coat has dark blotches or patches, which can be orange, chestnut, brown, or nearly black in color separated by light hair usually white or cream in color. Male giraffes become darker as they age. The coat pattern serves as camouflage, allowing it to blend in the light and shade patterns of savanna woodlands. While adult giraffes standing among trees and bushes are hard to see at even a few feet away, when moving about to gain the best view of an approaching predator, they rely on their size and ability to defend themselves rather than on camouflage, which appears to be more important for calves.

 Giraffes mainly eat leaves off of trees, or twigs. Mimosa and acacia trees are their favorite but they also eat from over 100 other varieties of plants and trees. They eat shrubs, grass, and berries. And when stressed they can eat the bark off of trees. Although herbivorous, giraffes are said to be known to visit carcasses and lick dried meat off bones. Their long necks make it able to reach high branches that are out of reach for other animals. Also they can use their long necks to eat things down low. (Pretty much, they have the best of two worlds) They can eat hundreds of pounds of leaves a week; however, they don’t drink a lot of water. Most of their water that they get is from the moisture of the plants they eat. Their drinking processes looks really funny, kind-of-like the splits. They spread out their legs and then bring their head down to drink. This is dangerous for them because crocodiles could easily attack them in this vulnerable position.

See what I mean giraffes are cool. They live in Africa, they look so tall and graceful, and they eat a very nutritious diet. How many of you have all of those things going for you?

  

                               What Giraffes tells us about themselves:

They have amazing tongue skills

I mean it...look at him and his tongue!

This one gets the grand award of the Best tongue

They are very cool!

Every one loves them! Have you ever seen a more happier sloth?

They are very photogenic! 

They are everywhere...I mean everywhere!!

By Sara Anne