giraffes

giraffes

Giraffe term (Arabic Zarafa (t), by Giraffa Italian) is the name given to even-toed ungulate mammals, ruminants, Giraffa gender, family of girafídeos, which contains a single species, Giraffa camelopardalis, or camel-leopard, as they were called by the Romans when they existed in north Africa, it was believed that they came from a mixture of a female camel with a male leopard [citation needed]. Are ungulates with an even number of toes.

The giraffes are the only members of their gender and, together with the okapi, form the Giraffidae family. They are currently listed nine subspecies of giraffe (see below), differentiated by geographical distribution and the pattern of spots. These various subspecies of giraffes now live in the dry lands south of the Sahara. The giraffes are divided into two groups: giraffe-Loons are tricorns, that is, with a nasal horn interocular and two frontoparietal, presenting predominantly reticulated coat; and giraffe south-without nasal horn and the coat is predominantly irregular meshes.

Males reach 6 meters in height and with their prehensile tongues that reach up to 50 cm are able to pick the leaves of acacias, among sharp thorns in the tops of the branches, which are their main source of food. They are able to eat the leaves of trees up to 6 meters high. In order to graze, they have to fend off one another forelegs. Due to the low nutrient content of the leaves, giraffes need to eat large amounts and spend almost 20 hours a day eating. The body length may exceed 2.25 meters and also has a tail 80 centimeters long, not counting the final brush. Its weight can exceed 500 kg. Despite its size, the giraffe can reach the speed of 47 km / h, enough to escape their predators.


Giraffes, like all mammals have seven cervical vertebrae. Their necks, however, are the largest of today's animals, so it is somewhat flexible. Because of its long, stiff neck, its vascular system has the reputation of being the most responsible for the blood pressure of the animal kingdom. The heart has two holes: one that pumps blood to the lungs and limbs and another that feeds the brain with red liquid. The latter is fine, since the muscles are larger, so the force required for pumping is not as great as you think. However, when the giraffe has drinking water, blood pressure head increases too much and not only kills because of two outstanding characteristics. Next to the brain, there is a network of capillaries that branch into numerous smaller veins within the animal's skull. They serve to cushion and distribute this overload of blood spouted by the heart when the giraffe is with lowered neck. Furthermore, a thick vein full of valves returning to the heart receives part of the pumped blood. When the blood vessels too much pressure on the head of the giraffe, it is diverted into this vein. Full of valves that close with the last blood, the vein relieves the pressure head and not let the animal die every time you want to quench your thirst.

Both sexes have two to four short horns and covered with skin. The giraffe is the fawn (yellow-roasted, browned) or pink, with large patches of brownish color (except in the womb, where the hair is white). The brown spots have a single standard for each individual and helps to mimic in the shadows of the trees where they live. These spots also concentrate, under the skin, blood vessels and are responsible for maintaining proper body temperature of giraffes. They have long legs, and the highest front to the rear, and a reduced number of ribs. The lifetime of a giraffe is approximately 15 to 20 years. The leather is stiffer leg and compresses more members giraffe than the rest of the body. This allows the blood does not spread through the tissue and muscles of the legs, causing him to return to the heart. If this does not happen, the legs of the giraffe accumulate a lot of blood for being too long and end up killing the animal.

Lions, hyenas and leopards are predators of young giraffes, but adults have sufficient size and speed to limit the number of predators. Giraffes hardly emit sounds. Gestation lasts 420-450 days only a calf born at a time with a height ranging between 1.5 and 1.7 meters. Their horns are born loose in the skull not to hurt the mother during its exit from the uterus. The horns fuse with the bone during childhood and adolescence. Giraffes puppies fall from a height of nearly two meters when the mother is standing at birth, which is frequent. The vegetation of the African savannah, however, dampens the fall.

It is gregarious animals constituting livestock or some large flocks, walking quickly, the locked step and associating the antelopes and ostriches in African savannahs south of the Sahara.

Giraffes sleep about two hours a day and a little at a time. They sleep standing, and only on very special occasions, when you feel completely secure, lies on the ground to rest. The giraffe only lie if safe because if a predator approaches, it takes a long time to get up due to its size. The giraffe is quite large due to a bone in her neck and her legs, which are well stretched

predators

In some African countries, in their first year of life, especially in the first five months, between 50% and 70% of young giraffes are prey to predators such as lions, hyenas, leopards, wild dogs, or crocodiles.

ecological niche

They feed deciduous foliage during the rainy season (between November and May, when food is most abundant) or evergreen species in the dry season. Small shoots or shoots and acacias and mimosa shrubs are also appreciated. The giraffes are adapted to exploit a vegetation strip located above 3 meters high, out of reach of all other herbivores. Except for elephants, giraffes explore a very narrow ecological niche and thus have no competitors for scarce resources of the savannah. It has only one offspring at a time that is born with 2 meters high.