Tallest land animal : Giraffe

The tallest land animal in the world is the giraffe. One of the most amazing features of this animal is that it has a neck longer than its body. The mane is less bushy. The neck slope’s narrowly to the shoulders. The sloping increases from the shoulders to the hindquarter. The legs are also long but not as long as the neck. A male giraffe weighs between 1100-2000 kg whereas the female weighs between 700-1200 kg. The height of the male part up to the shoulders is 10 ft. and to the top of the horns is 18 ft. But the female counterpart is 2 ft. shorter at the shoulders. The tongue of the giraffe is half a meter long in length. Also it is prehensile. The head is tapering towards the end.

Both the male and the female giraffe have a main pair of horns, but the horns of the female are short and thin but the horns of the males are skinny and thick. The skin color of the giraffe is yellow and brown or chestnut. Old males are sometimes darker. The smell emanating from the mouth of the male giraffe is pungent and strong. The closest ancestors of the giraffe are the okapi, which are rare and are found in the basin of Congo. They were discovered earlier this century. Giraffes are usually found in the savanna regions and other places where there are tall trees.

Giraffes can be seen at numerous places like wild life sanctuary, national parks, etc. The giraffe’s heads elongate vertically due to their extremely long tongue, which enable them to eat the foliage, which is beyond the reach of all animals except elephants. Due to their height, eating the crowns of the small trees is as easy as child’s play. Also they feed on the foliage of broad-leafed deciduous and evergreen trees. They can store about 125-150 kg. of food in their stomach and drink water once every 2 days. If there is no water they extract it from the leaves, that they eat. Males spend nearly a half a day roaming, while females spend a little bit more than half the day roaming. The giraffe likes to live in groups and are known as social animals. They live in herds and do not migrate much.

These herds or groups can be composed of all males, or all females, or females and young ones, or both sexes. Their height broadens their vision as they can see far off places. They also have brilliant eyesight. Even in herds they maintain a distance of a few yards unless they are attracted to the same tree or in the presence of predators. Like humans, female giraffes are more sociable and stay in the company of other females. Rainy season is the mating season. They usually mate at the ripe age of 4 years and calves are born after 16 months. When the giraffes are in danger they an gallop at speeds of nearly 40 mph.