We know that in our planet we can locate living beings either on the crust of the Earth or submerged in the deepest waters that are part of our ecosystem, the truth is that wherever we find them it will always be necessary to know about them, therefore, this time we will be relating to a beautiful species of animal which we commonly call as giraffe, and first of all I think there is no doubt to say that it is the tallest animal on the crust of the planet and this is demonstrated by its height which can reach about 6 meters approximately, this in relation to an adult male.
In relation to the above mentioned we can go deeper by expressing that the legs as well as the necks of these animals can measure up to two meters, and without a doubt, both parts of the body considerably exceed the average height of human beings, and if we are talking about weight we can say that males weigh about 1, 6 tons and as for the females an average of 0.8 tons, at best when we observe the giraffes in addition to their great height, we can visualize another striking and peculiar characteristics of these animals such as their spots that are usually black or brown and they are found on the yellowish fur of these animals.
It is important to say that this type of beautiful animals can only be found in natural habitat in the savannahs and open forests of Africa, and these animals tend to be very sociable, and usually do not fear our presence, and they live in groups of a few members, and also have weak ties between them which makes them change herds constantly.
Giraffes feed on acacia leaves, which is why they are considered herbivores and also ruminants as we can see in the gif at the beginning of this article, another feature to highlight of these animals is that they can go up to three days without consuming water, this allows them to adapt perfectly to arid terrain, and the liquids necessary for their survival are obtained from both the leaves and those fruits that manage to consume.
The life expectancy of these animals is approximately 25 years, and female giraffes reach sexual maturity at the age of 6 years, and usually have only one offspring, however, sometimes they manage to have twins, and the gestation period is long since it is approximately 15 months, and at birth these offspring walk and their weight is approximately 100 kilograms.
Giraffes like the rest of the mammalian animals manage to sleep even though it is often believed that they do not, since it is very difficult to see them sleeping, and this is because they only sleep between 5 to 6 hours a day and this is done in small naps of about 10 minutes, This is due to the fact that giraffes are very persecuted by predators such as lions, tigers and crocodiles, and for this reason they constantly observe their surroundings to be very aware of such attacks.
This type of animal species has been persecuted throughout its history because its skin and other parts of its body were used to manufacture or design some products such as handbags, shoes or other types of ornaments, this fact together with deforestation has considerably reduced the natural habitat of giraffes, For this reason, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has catalogued the giraffe as a vulnerable species, and despite its protection, it is still being hunted, so some of its subspecies are in danger of extinction.
Extraordinary aspects to know about these beautiful animals such as giraffes, the important thing is that we can know about them and manage to protect them wherever they are because in many occasions due to our wrong actions we seriously endanger their existence, and therefore, we have to show that we are able to find the healthy coexistence with all living species that are next to us because we all need them.
Until another opportunity my dear readers, I hope you can share your important contributions and in this way consolidate the topic raised in this opportunity related to the general knowledge of some aspects or characteristics of the animal species commonly known as the giraffe and that we should all take care of and teach our children to do the same.
Note: The gif at the beginning of this article is my own, and the images were created in Power Point and the animated gif in PhotoScape.
Bibliographic reference consulted and recommended
[1]Evolutionary Ecology of Giraffes.
[2]Jirafas.