---
title: "What the sources say about the Giraffe | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "55 claims from the Giraffe profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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canonical: "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/giraffe/sources/"
---

# What the sources say about the Giraffe (*Giraffa camelopardalis*)

> 55 claims from the Giraffe profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Giraffe](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/giraffe/)

## Giraffa camelopardalis. Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Giraffa_camelopardalis/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Bulls can top eighteen feet | Male giraffes (bulls) stand a total of 5.7 m from the ground to their horns ... 15.42 to 18.70 ft (note: ADW's own imperial conversion: 5.7 m is 18.70 ft, the top of its range, which is the bulls' height to the horns. 'can top' keeps it to the tallest bulls rather than every giraffe.) |
| Dry savannas, grasslands, and acacia woodlands in sub-Saharan Africa | mainly found south of the Sahara ... Giraffes inhabits arid, dry land. They seek out areas enriched with Acacia growth. Giraffes are found in savannas, grasslands, or open woodlands (note: 'in' rather than 'across': ADW says giraffes have disappeared from most of western Africa. ADW's 'mainly' concerns whether any range lies outside the region, which the page doesn't claim.) |
| from a residual population in Niger to South Africa | a residual population in Niger ... reintroduced in South Africa to game reserves |
| Mainly acacia leaves, plus seed pods and mimosa and apricot (Prunus armeniaca) foliage | Giraffes feed on leaves, flowers, seed pods, and fruits ... Acacia senegal, Mimosa pudica, Combretum micranthum, and Prunus armeniaca ... Their main food is the leaves from Acacia trees (note: ADW lists Mimosa pudica (mimosa) and Prunus armeniaca (apricot) among the browse species.) |
| Bulls stand up to 5.7 meters (about 18.7 feet) from hoof to horn tip | stand a total of 5.7 m from the ground to their horns ... 15.42 to 18.70 ft |
| can weigh as much as 1,930 kilograms | Bulls weigh up to 1,930 kg |
| cows run smaller, topping out around 1,180 kilograms | cows can weigh up to 1,180 kg |
| a neck built from just seven vertebrae | Giraffe necks contain 7 elongated vertebrae |
| A giraffe's prehensile tongue | their 45 cm long black tongue grasps prickly food (note: 'prehensile' means grasping: ADW's tongue 'grasps prickly food'. San Diego calls the lips prehensile.) |
| chewing cud on the move | Chewing cud while traveling helps to maximize their feeding opportunities |
| Adult giraffes are well able to defend themselves | Adult giraffes are well able to defend themselves |
| Lions are their main predators | Lions (Panthera leo) are the main predators of giraffes |
| leopards and hyenas also known to prey on giraffes, and crocodiles taking them at waterholes | leopards (Panthera pardus) and (hyenas Hyaena hyaena) have also been known to prey on giraffes ... Crocodiles may also prey on giraffes when they come to waterholes to drink (note: ADW's 'may' is about where crocodiles strike; San Diego Zoo states flatly that 'only lions and crocodiles hunt them'.) |
| most of their predators target the young, sick, or elderly | Most predators of giraffes target young, sick, or elderly giraffes |
| with its front hooves | delivering deadly blows with their front hooves |

## Giraffe. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/giraffe

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| roughly twenty-five-pound heart | weighs about 25 pounds (11 kilograms) |
| eighteen-inch tongue | 18-inch (46-centimeter) tongue |
| The giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) is the tallest land animal alive | Giraffes are the tallest land animals |
| A giraffe's life span is 15 to 20 years | LIFE SPAN 15 to 20 years (note: Replaces ADW's wild 10-15 and zoo 20-27: a duration needs a current source, and San Diego Zoo's current page gives 15 to 20 (docs/fact-check.md, 'Check the date').) |
| each of which can be over 10 inches (25.4 centimeters) long | each one can be over 10 inches (25.4 centimeters) long |
| heart is about 0.6 meters (2 feet) long and weighs roughly 11 kilograms (25 pounds) | giraffe's heart is 2 feet (0.6 meters) long and weighs about 25 pounds (11 kilograms) |
| when it drops to drink | giraffes have to bend a long way down to drink from a lake or stream |
| An 18-Inch Tongue and a 16-to-20-Hour Workday | spending 16 to 20 hours a day eating ... 18-inch (46-centimeter) tongue (note: Heading combines the tongue-length and daily-feeding-hours facts, each also claimed in the body.) |
| runs up to 18 inches (46 centimeters) long | 18-inch (46-centimeter) tongue |
| works alongside flexible lips to reach around a tree's long thorns | These trees have long thorns ... They simply use their 18-inch (46-centimeter) tongue and prehensile lips to reach around the thorns |
| The tongue's dark color is thought to work like sunscreen, protecting it from sunburn while it reaches for leaves | It is thought that the dark color of their tongue protects them from getting sunburned while reaching for leaves |
| Giraffes spend 16 to 20 hours of each day eating | spending 16 to 20 hours a day eating |
| taking in up to 75 pounds (34 kilograms) of food | Giraffes may eat up to 75 pounds (34 kilograms) of food per day |
| big enough that they don't need to hide from predators | Giraffes are so big that they really don't need to hide from predators |
| When it has to, a giraffe defends itself with a deadly kick delivered karate-style | If they have to, giraffes defend themselves with a deadly kick, karate-style |
| a sprint clocked at a record 34.7 miles per hour (56 kilometers per hour) | The record running speed of a giraffe is 34.7 miles per hour (56 kilometers per hour) |
| The IUCN's own giraffe experts, its Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group, have concluded there are four species | In a major reclassification, the International Union for the Conservation Nature’s Species Survival Commission’s Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group concluded that there are actually four distinct species of giraffes. (note: The page gives no date for the reclassification, so neither does the profile. The Red List still carries one assessment for Giraffa camelopardalis, so scientificName and the status line are unchanged.) |
| the northern, reticulated, Masai and southern giraffes | The four found in the assessment are northern, reticulated, Masai, and southern |
| guitar vamps that sway side to side like a giraffe's pacing gait, which moves the front and back legs on one side forward together, then the two on the other side | Giraffes have a way of moving, or gait, in which both the front and back legs on one side move forward together, then the other two legs on the other side move forward. (note: vibe.reason. San Diego Zoo names it: 'It’s called "pacing."') |
| It's thought that the dark color of a giraffe's 18-inch (46-centimeter) tongue works like sunscreen, protecting it from sunburn while it reaches for leaves | 18-inch (46-centimeter) tongue ... It is thought that the dark color of their tongue protects them from getting sunburned while reaching for leaves |

## Muller et al. (2018). Giraffa camelopardalis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T9194A136266699.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2016-3.rlts.t9194a136266699.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The IUCN Red List rates Giraffa camelopardalis as Vulnerable | IUCN Red List category: Vulnerable (VU). Giraffa camelopardalis (Linnaeus, 1758), IUCN taxon 9194 |

## Hargens et al. (1987). Gravitational haemodynamics and oedema prevention in the giraffe. Nature.

https://doi.org/10.1038/329059a0

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| heart built to fight gravity | adaptive mechanisms to orthostatic (gravitational) pressure changes ... arterial pressure near the giraffe heart is about twice that in humans, to provide more normal blood pressure and perfusion to the brain |
| arterial blood pressure near the heart roughly double a human's to fight gravity | arterial pressure near the giraffe heart is about twice that in humans, to provide more normal blood pressure and perfusion to the brain |
| arterial blood pressure near the heart that runs roughly double a human's | arterial pressure near the giraffe heart is about twice that in humans |
| a tight layer of skin and vessels that narrow ahead of the capillaries do similar work, keeping blood and fluid from pooling in the legs | how giraffes avoid pooling of blood and tissue fluid (oedema) in dependent tissues of their extremities ... combined with a tight skin layer, move fluid upward against gravity. Other mechanisms that prevent oedema include precapillary vasoconstriction |
| Arterial blood pressure near a giraffe's heart runs at roughly double a human's, the extra push needed to overcome gravity and keep blood reaching the brain | arterial pressure near the giraffe heart is about twice that in humans, to provide more normal blood pressure and perfusion to the brain |

## Mitchell, Bobbitt & Devries (2008). Cerebral perfusion pressure in giraffe: Modelling the effects of head-raising and -lowering. Journal of Theoretical Biology.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2008.01.017

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A mechanical model suggests that a rise in the pressure pushing blood through the brain as the head swings back up may help stop it fainting | using a mechanical model that functioned as an anatomical U-tube ... suggest that an increase in CPP plays a significant role in maintaining CBF during head-raising and that it may be an important mechanism for preventing fainting in giraffe (note: CPP, cerebral perfusion pressure, is the pressure driving blood through the brain (defined in the same abstract). The result is from a mechanical model, which the superpower now says.) |
| A giraffe's head swings through a bigger change in height than any other animal's | The positional change of the giraffe head between ground level and standing upright is the largest of all animals |
| it never faints doing it | yet loss of consciousness does not occur (note: 'never' paraphrases the source's own unhedged 'does not occur'.) |
| cerebral perfusion pressure, the pressure driving blood through the brain | CBF is related to cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP). CPP is the difference between mean arterial pressure (MAP) at the head and intracranial pressure (ICP) (note: Simplified for a young-reader definition of CPP.) |
| falls as the head moves from upright down to level, then partly recovers as it keeps tipping further down | CPP fell from approximately 170 to 45 mmHg, but increased to approximately 67 mmHg at 30 degrees "down" ... to approximately 75 at 60 degrees "down" (note: States only the direction of the trend (fall, then partial recovery); the source's 'approximately' qualifies numbers the page does not restate.) |
| The researchers suggest its rise as the head comes back up may be an important mechanism for keeping the giraffe from blacking out | suggest that an increase in CPP plays a significant role in maintaining CBF during head-raising and that it may be an important mechanism for preventing fainting in giraffe |
| cerebral perfusion pressure, the pressure that drives blood through the brain, falls as the head moves from upright down to level, then partly recovers as it keeps tipping further toward the ground | CPP fell from approximately 170 to 45 mmHg, but increased to approximately 67 mmHg at 30 degrees "down" ... to approximately 75 at 60 degrees "down" (note: Same trend-only reading as the body's blockquote claim.) |
| The researchers suggest that its rise as the head comes back up may be an important mechanism for keeping a giraffe conscious through a head swing bigger than any other animal makes | The positional change of the giraffe head between ground level and standing upright is the largest of all animals ... suggest that an increase in CPP plays a significant role in maintaining CBF during head-raising and that it may be an important mechanism for preventing fainting in giraffe |

## Tobler & Schwierin (1996). Behavioural sleep in the giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) in a zoological garden. Journal of Sleep Research.

https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2869.1996.00010.x

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A zoo study that filmed giraffes over 152 nights | Behavioural sleep was assessed for 152 nights in 5 adult, 2 immature and 1 juvenile giraffes at a zoological garden |
| found they slept about 4.6 hours in every 24 | The 24‐h sleep profile had a main bimodal nocturnal sleep period ... Total sleep time (TST), excluding the juvenile, was 4.6 h (note: 'about' because the 4.6 h total excludes the one juvenile. Replaces San Diego Zoo's unsourced '5 to 30 minutes', which this measured study contradicts.) |
| in short, broken bouts | Sleep was fragmented, as indicated by the predominance of RS episodes lasting less than 11 min |
| some of them standing up | Sleep occurred while the giraffes were standing (SS) and in recumbency (RS) |

## Brown et al. (2007). Extensive population genetic structure in the giraffe. BMC Biology.

https://doi.org/10.1186/1741-7007-5-57

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| a 2007 genetic survey found at least six distinct giraffe lineages across Africa with little evidence of interbreeding between them | we show that there are at least six genealogically distinct lineages of giraffe in Africa, with little evidence of interbreeding between them (note: Year 2007 is the reference's publication year (Crossref, verified by audit:sources), not part of the sentence quoted.) |

## Fennessy et al. (2016). Multi-locus Analyses Reveal Four Giraffe Species Instead of One. Current Biology.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.07.036

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| a 2016 study using multi-locus genetic data went further, arguing the differences are large enough that giraffes should be recognized as four separate species rather than one | Traditionally, one giraffe species ... have been recognized ... Coalescence-based multi-locus and population genetic analyses identify at least four separate and monophyletic clades, which should be recognized as four distinct giraffe species under the genetic isolation criterion (note: Year 2016 is the reference's publication year (Crossref, verified by audit:sources). 'rather than one' is the abstract's 'Traditionally, one giraffe species' and the paper's title, 'Four Giraffe Species Instead of One'.) |