Giraffe Pictures

Giraffe pictures illustrate an animal that can attain a height of up to 6 metres/19.5', a weight of 1.5 tons and a kick that can kill. The giraffe has only one natural enemy: the lion. They can run up to a speed of 50km/h (31mph) which is one of the ways they avoid danger.

Giraffe

Up close and personal

A single giraffe can feed a large family of lions for several days so they are in high demand. Usually lions will surround a giraffe and tire it out or a brave individual might clamber up the back and subsequently deliver a bite in the neck.

Lions in the Kruger National Park of South Africa however have adapted their hunting pattern in that they chase these skyscrapers onto wet roads after the rain, where their hoofs could easily slip and make them fall.

A Simple Problem With a Complex Solution

A giraffe has only seven vertebrae in its neck, just like you and me and any other mammal. But they face a problem we don't: how do you pump blood 2.5m (8.2') uphill to the brain?

It developed a large heart, with walls more than 7cm (2.9") thick and also has a blood pressure about twice that of man. The huge carotid artery which carries the blood to the brain, divides into a great network of lesser blood vessels before it actually reaches the brain.

When the giraffe bends down to drink water, a series of one-way valves in the jugular vein prevent the blood on its return path to the heart, from flowing back to the brain.

Problem solved...

Long Drop

A giraffe mother gives birth to their single 1.83m (6 feet) tall calf by dropping it from a height of about 1.8m! The calf suckles for nine months or longer.

The giraffe's life expectancy is about 28 years.

Giraffe Pictures - How and Where On Safari

They prefer fairly open bushveld where they spend their time grazing on tall trees and bushes. You may see giraffe on the open savannah, but then they are only crossing from one bushy area to the next. With their rough tongues, they can easily feed even on thorn trees.

Giraffe drinking To include a few amusing pictures in your wildlife photo collection, visit a water hole and wait for the tallest animal on earth to come and quench its thirst. They have to bend right down and form a natural type of tripod (be it with four legs).

Giraffes have good eyesight and hearing. They are also very curious animals and you might find them looking at you as much as you are looking at them, therefore providing ample time for the best photographic shot.

Their curiosity can sometimes lead you to lions. If you see them looking in a direction (away from you) for a while, chances are they're looking at something worthwhile.