Let’s face it, giraffes are pretty weird. Evolution has carefully crafted them over millions of years so they fit their African niche perfectly, able to survive the harsh conditions thanks to the long necks that allow them to find food high above the ground, where no other animal can reach.
Oddly, while their necks are incredibly long, giraffes have the same number of vertebrae as humans. And that’s just one of many awesome giraffe facts we have collected for you. If you’re buying a giraffe animal footstool, here’s an insight into the curious animal that inspired the design.
About the weird, wonderful giraffe
There are four types of giraffe: the northern giraffe, southern giraffe, Masai giraffe and reticulated giraffe.
As the tallest land animal on earth, males can grow taller than five and a half metres by the time they’re four years old, females around a metre less. They have enormously long tongues, not far short of half a metre, and their tails are a metre long.
Their eyesight is really good. Giraffes can spot a lion not far short of half a mile away and they alert the rest of their group to a threat by staring hard at it until the others notice. Clever!
If you’ve ever seen a giraffe gallop, it’s an extraordinary sight. No two hooves touch the ground at the same time and they can hit 37 miles an hour for short distances, carrying on at 30 miles an hour for several miles. Living in social groups of twenty or so animals led by an adult male, they roam an area measuring around 600 square miles in dry conditions where there’s less food, just 30 square miles in wet areas where there’s more to eat.
Giraffes eat leaves from trees as high as 6m, not far short of a two storey house. Acacia is a big favourite, found on the grasslands and in open woodlands of East Africa where they live. Most giraffes these days are found on reserves like the Serengeti and Amboseli National Parks.
Males and females have two furry horns, and the males have particularly bumpy skulls thanks to the violent-looking ceremonial head-bumping they do with other bachelor males in their group. The giraffe’s neck itself contains just seven bones but they’re dramatically elongated, full of powerful arteries with extra valves to push the blood to the head against the force of gravity. When the animal lowers its head special vessels at the bottom of its brain keep the blood pressure at a safe level.
Giraffes live for around a quarter of a century, during which time they eat vast amounts of vegetation: a big male needs at least 65 kilos of food a day to survive. Their tough mouths and tongues mean they can eat spiky, spiny vegetation, which they grasp with their lips or tongue then pull into their mouths. They get most of their water from their food but in dry weather, they’ll crouch down low, watched over by their friends, to drink from ponds, watering holes and lakes.
They only have one close genetic relative, the okapi, like a short, stumpy giraffe with a brown body, striped legs and a shorter neck. Okapis have the same sort of sloped body as the giraffe, sloping from the neck down to their bottom and full of massive muscles that support their slightly longer-than-normal neck. You can sort of see they’re related to giraffes.
Giving birth from the age of four onwards, giraffe pregnancy lasts 15 months. They have one baby at a time, usually in the dry season, and the baby is 2m high at birth. After a week with its mum the baby joins other babies in the group, spending time together to keep safe. If a predator approaches the female giraffes can kick with their legs, a frightening experience for a short predator!
The calves can eat leaves from a few weeks old but drink their mothers’ milk for almost two years before they’re fully weaned. Once they’re old enough the young males join their fellow bachelors in a group, while the females stick close to their mother.
They get on well together, sociable and mild-mannered most of the time, and most touching of all giraffes mourn their dead. If a baby dies they’ll stay with it, walk around it and touch it.
Humans have always been fascinated by these grand animals, which appear on ancient Egyptian tombs. But thanks to hunting, habitat loss and the awful cattle disease Rinderpest, they’re in danger of extinction. In 2016 the IUCN Redlist classified giraffes as ‘vulnerable’.
Fantastic facts about giraffes
Giraffes give birth standing up, giving the babies a 1.5m drop to survive before they even touch the ground
Now and again they have twins
A giraffe walks at about 10mph
As well as leaves and shoots, they eat flowers and fruits
There’s a symbiotic relationship between some kinds of acacia tree and giraffes. The seeds can’t germinate until they’ve been eaten by a giraffe then pooped out of the other end
As a ruminant, like a cow, a giraffe has several stomachs. It eats its food several times over to get all the water and nutrients out of it
Bulls can fight. It’s called’ necking’ and while it looks violent, they make up afterwards and end up friends again
Surrealist artist Salvador Dali was fascinated by giraffes, the ultimate surrealist ‘design’
In captivity they live longer than normal and can reach 40 years old
A herd of giraffes is called a ‘tower’
Their neck can grow seven feet long, but that’s still too short to drink without bending their legs into an uncomfortable and unsafe position!
The females are responsible for babysitting duties
The spots are not just spotty – they each contain a complex network of blood vessels that give off heat to help keep the animal cool
The Reticulated Giraffe’s spots look a bit like a brick wall
The Masai Giraffe’s spots are more like an oak leaf, not so neat as the Reticulated giraffe
The Northern Giraffe’s yellow and black markings help it hide
The Southern Giraffe’s spots are sort of star-shaped
The older the male giraffe is, the darker his spots are
Giraffes don’t mate for life, the males just find a suitable fertile female by sniffing their wee
They hum to each other at night, so low the human ear can’t hear it
Mother giraffes whistle to their babies
Giraffes also communicate with hisses, shouts and snorts
A giraffe heart can weigh as much as 11 kilos
Have you fallen in love with these beautiful, peaceful animals? If so, celebrate their extraordinary beauty and strangeness by buying a giraffe footstool. Every time you sit on it or rest your feet on it, you’ll remember all the remarkable things that make this amazing creature tick.
Giraffe animal footstools – The amazing creature behind the stool!
Let’s face it, giraffes are pretty weird. Evolution has carefully crafted them over millions of years so they fit their African niche perfectly, able to survive the harsh conditions thanks to the long necks that allow them to find food high above the ground, where no other animal can reach.
Oddly, while their necks are incredibly long, giraffes have the same number of vertebrae as humans. And that’s just one of many awesome giraffe facts we have collected for you. If you’re buying a giraffe animal footstool, here’s an insight into the curious animal that inspired the design.
About the weird, wonderful giraffe
There are four types of giraffe: the northern giraffe, southern giraffe, Masai giraffe and reticulated giraffe.
As the tallest land animal on earth, males can grow taller than five and a half metres by the time they’re four years old, females around a metre less. They have enormously long tongues, not far short of half a metre, and their tails are a metre long.
Their eyesight is really good. Giraffes can spot a lion not far short of half a mile away and they alert the rest of their group to a threat by staring hard at it until the others notice. Clever!
If you’ve ever seen a giraffe gallop, it’s an extraordinary sight. No two hooves touch the ground at the same time and they can hit 37 miles an hour for short distances, carrying on at 30 miles an hour for several miles. Living in social groups of twenty or so animals led by an adult male, they roam an area measuring around 600 square miles in dry conditions where there’s less food, just 30 square miles in wet areas where there’s more to eat.
Giraffes eat leaves from trees as high as 6m, not far short of a two storey house. Acacia is a big favourite, found on the grasslands and in open woodlands of East Africa where they live. Most giraffes these days are found on reserves like the Serengeti and Amboseli National Parks.
Males and females have two furry horns, and the males have particularly bumpy skulls thanks to the violent-looking ceremonial head-bumping they do with other bachelor males in their group. The giraffe’s neck itself contains just seven bones but they’re dramatically elongated, full of powerful arteries with extra valves to push the blood to the head against the force of gravity. When the animal lowers its head special vessels at the bottom of its brain keep the blood pressure at a safe level.
Giraffes live for around a quarter of a century, during which time they eat vast amounts of vegetation: a big male needs at least 65 kilos of food a day to survive. Their tough mouths and tongues mean they can eat spiky, spiny vegetation, which they grasp with their lips or tongue then pull into their mouths. They get most of their water from their food but in dry weather, they’ll crouch down low, watched over by their friends, to drink from ponds, watering holes and lakes.
They only have one close genetic relative, the okapi, like a short, stumpy giraffe with a brown body, striped legs and a shorter neck. Okapis have the same sort of sloped body as the giraffe, sloping from the neck down to their bottom and full of massive muscles that support their slightly longer-than-normal neck. You can sort of see they’re related to giraffes.
Giving birth from the age of four onwards, giraffe pregnancy lasts 15 months. They have one baby at a time, usually in the dry season, and the baby is 2m high at birth. After a week with its mum the baby joins other babies in the group, spending time together to keep safe. If a predator approaches the female giraffes can kick with their legs, a frightening experience for a short predator!
The calves can eat leaves from a few weeks old but drink their mothers’ milk for almost two years before they’re fully weaned. Once they’re old enough the young males join their fellow bachelors in a group, while the females stick close to their mother.
They get on well together, sociable and mild-mannered most of the time, and most touching of all giraffes mourn their dead. If a baby dies they’ll stay with it, walk around it and touch it.
Humans have always been fascinated by these grand animals, which appear on ancient Egyptian tombs. But thanks to hunting, habitat loss and the awful cattle disease Rinderpest, they’re in danger of extinction. In 2016 the IUCN Redlist classified giraffes as ‘vulnerable’.
Fantastic facts about giraffes
Have you fallen in love with these beautiful, peaceful animals? If so, celebrate their extraordinary beauty and strangeness by buying a giraffe footstool. Every time you sit on it or rest your feet on it, you’ll remember all the remarkable things that make this amazing creature tick.