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The giraffe's head and neck are held up by large muscles and a nuchal ligament, which are anchored by long thoracic vertebrae spines, giving them a hump. [17] [62] [35] Adult male reticulated giraffe feeding high on an acacia, in Kenya. The giraffe's neck vertebrae have ball and socket joints.
An adult giraffe head can weigh 30 kg (66 lb), and if necessary, male giraffes establish a hierarchy among themselves by swinging their heads at each other, horns first, a behavior known as "necking". A subordinate okapi signals submission by placing its head and neck on the ground. Giraffes are sociable, whereas okapis live mainly solitary lives.
Despite her rare neck deformity, Gemina reached an old age for a giraffe. She outlived the average giraffe by almost six years. [2] In December 2007 and January 2008, Gemina stopped eating and her health began to deteriorate due to old age. [2] She was reluctantly euthanized by her keepers at the Santa Barbara Zoo on January 9, 2008. [2] [3]
The spotting pattern extends throughout the legs but not the upper part of the face. The neck and rump patches tend to be fairly small. The subspecies also has a white ear patch. [9]: 51 Around 13,000 animals are estimated to remain in the wild; and about 20 are kept in zoos. [5] South African giraffe (G. g. giraffa), also known as Cape giraffe
To get a sip of water from a water hole, a giraffe will splay its legs in an awkward-looking manner. The one-way valves in their veins prevent blood from flowing to their brain as they lower their ...
It is characterised by its long, slender neck and limbs, the flat, wedge-like head and the large, round eyes. Males are nearly 89–105 cm (35– 41 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) tall, and the shorter females 80–100 cm (31–39 in); the head-and-body length is typically between 140 and 160 cm (55 and 63 in). Males weigh between 31 and 52 kg (68 and 115 lb ...
In addition, Rothschild's giraffe displays no markings on the lower leg, giving it the impression of wearing white stockings. [2] Another distinguishing feature of Rothschild's giraffe, although harder to spot, is the number of ossicones on the head. This is the only Giraffa phenotype to be born with five ossicones. Two of these are the larger ...
In okapi, the male's ossicones are smaller in proportion to the head, and taper towards their tips, forming a sharper point than the comparatively blunt giraffe ossicone. Whereas female giraffes have reduced ossicones, female okapi lack ossicones entirely. The morphology of ossicones in the extinct relatives of giraffes and okapi varies widely.