The name "giraffe" comes from the Arabic word zarafah - 'fast walker'.
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| adapted from: gillag |
Before You Read
- Giraffes are the tallest land animals.
- A giraffe's neck is 1.8 metres long.
- A giraffe's heart can weigh 11 kilograms.
- Male giraffes are 5.5 metres tall and females are 4.2 metres tall.
- A male giraffe can weigh up to 1,192 kilograms and a female 828.
- A baby giraffe is called a calf (like babies of a whale, hippopotamus, moose, reindeer, rhinoceros, cow).
- A baby giraffe drinks its mother's milk for 9-12 months.
- A baby giraffe takes its first step after 1 hour.
- Giraffes eat about 34 kilograms of food every day.
- They walk for 16-2- hours every day.
- Giraffes can run 48-56 kilometres per hour.
- Giraffes don't sleep for long - just 4.6 hours per day! They usually sleep standing, and sometimes they sit.
- Their favourite food is the green leaves from acacia trees.
- A giraffe's tongue is black and 50 centimetres long.
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| Photo by David Clode on Unsplash |
