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The Giraffe
Sep 2, 2025
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Welcome to Wild But True with your host,
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Malcolm Walker. Today, we're going to
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learn about the giraffe. Giraffes are
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found in Africa, are the world's tallest
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land animals with a neck that can grow
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to be 6 ft long. Yet, they only have
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seven neck vertebrae. Humans have seven
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neck vertebrae, which seems like a lot
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of neck to have only seven bones. But a
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giraffe's vertebrae aren't the only
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peculiar body part. Their eyes are also
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quite strange. Their eyes are on the
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sides of their heads, which allows them
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to see almost all the way around
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themselves without moving their heads
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much. This comes in handy when they re
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out on the savannah looking for food or
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trying not to get eaten by predators. It
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also helps that giraffes have such great
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eyesight. They can spot danger or yummy
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leaves from far away. And even though
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their vision is so good, they are kind
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of nearsighted. No, they can't see
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things that are really close up very
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well. This isn't too much of a problem,
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though, because their sense of touch is
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pretty great. Their long prehensel
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tongues allow them to reach in and grab
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things that are right in front of them.
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Another thing about giraffes that's a
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little weird is their ears. Their ears
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are pretty small for their head size
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compared to other mammals, but since
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they're so tall, their ears are actually
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pretty good at picking up sounds that
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other African animals make. Some people
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think that giraffes have the best
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hearing of any land mammal, and this
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helps them avoid predators since they
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can hear lions and hyenas coming before
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they can see them. But while giraffes
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have lots of great senses, their sense
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of smell is not one of them. Their noses
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are at the top of their heads, far from
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the openings to their nasal passages.
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This means that it takes a lot of energy
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for them to sniff things. So instead,
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they mostly use their sense of sight and
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hearing to find food and water. If
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they're thirsty, giraffes will often
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stand right up on their hind legs to
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reach the water. And when they drink,
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they gulp down as much as 25 lbs of
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water in one go. Speaking of drinking
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water, giraffes can go for a long time
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without drinking. They can survive
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without water for a few days, but they
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usually only do this if it's really hot
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out. When it's cold, giraffes can go for
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a week or more without drinking, but
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they can't go very long without food.
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Giraffes eat mostly leaves from acacia
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trees, but they will eat other plants,
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too. They spend about 16 hours a day
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eating. That's almost half their day.
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They need all that time to eat because
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they have to eat so much to stay
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healthy. An adult giraffe needs to eat
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between 33 and 77 pounds of food every
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day. That's as much as 200 pandas. Even
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though giraffes eat so much, they don't
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really have to worry about getting fat.
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Even though they gain weight as they
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grow, that weight is mostly muscle and
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bone. The only time a giraffe might get
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fat is if it is in captivity, and it
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doesn't get enough exercise. And
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speaking of getting fat, baby giraffes
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are born weighing about 150 lbs. It's
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almost as heavy as an adult male
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gorilla. Newborn giraffes can walk
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within an hour of being born, and they
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can run with their moms within a couple
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of weeks. Baby giraffes stay with their
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mom's herd for a year or two, then they
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leave to join another herd. Male
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giraffes usually leave before the
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females do. Now, you know a lot about
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giraffes, but do you know what a group
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of giraffes is called? A group of
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giraffes is called a tower. No,
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seriously, giraffes are pretty amazing
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animals. We could talk about them all
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day, but we've got to leave you hanging
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for now. So, what should we talk about
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next? Please let us know in the comments
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below. Don't forget to subscribe and hit
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the like button.
#Biological Sciences
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