Giraffe

Giraffe

World's tallest land mammal

The giraffe is the largest ruminant animal and the tallest land mammal, with an adult giraffe neck averaging a staggering 1.8m / 6ft in length! The same goes for an adult giraffe’s legs. The average lenght is around 1.8m, making its legs taller than most humans. The main diet of the giraffe is tree leaves and buds. It has a prehensile tongue that is dark blue-black in color and is extremely long (45-50 centimeters or 18-20 inches). This construction allows the giraffe to nimbly wrap its tongue around the spiny thorns of the acacia tree and deftly remove the leaves without any harm to its mouth or tongue.  Nine sub-species of giraffe are recognized, including the South African giraffe, Rothschild’s giraffe and Masai giraffe. The gestation period for a female is 14 months and they normally give birth to one young.

 
 

 

Found in these top parks and game reserves

    • Amboseli National Park
    • Chobe National Park
    • Etosha National Park
    • Greater Kruger National Park
    • Hluhluwe Umfolozi Game Reserve
    • Hwange National Park
    • Kruger National Park
    • Kwando, Linyanti & Selinda Reserves
    • Lake Nakuru National Park
    • Madikwe Game Reserve

Found in these countries:

  •  Botswana
  •  DR Congo
  •  Kenya
  •  Malawi
  •  Mozambique
  •  Namibia
  •  Rwanda
  •  South Africa
  •  Tanzania
  •  Uganda
  •  Zambia
  •  Zimbabwe
  •  Chad
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