Giraffe

📖 In short

Imagine a friend who could look through a second-floor window while standing on the ground! That's the giraffe, the tallest animal on land. Giraffes live on the wide grassy plains of Africa, stretching their long necks to eat tender leaves from the treetops where no one else can reach.

🤩 Did you know?

A giraffe can be up to 5.5 meters tall, taller than three men standing on each other's shoulders!
Giraffes sleep very little, often taking short naps standing up.
A baby giraffe stands up less than an hour after it's born.
A giraffe's heart is big and strong, to pump blood all the way up its neck to its head.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 A long neck… with few bones!

You might think a giraffe's neck is full of bones, but it has only seven vertebrae, just like your neck! The difference is that each one is very big, and can be more than 25 centimeters long.

🔍 A dark blue tongue

The giraffe wraps its long tongue, about 50 centimeters long, around branches to pull off leaves, even from thorny acacia trees. Its dark color protects it from the sun's heat.

💡 One-of-a-kind spots

Every giraffe has its own pattern of patches, different from every other giraffe's, just like your fingerprint. These patches help it hide in the shade of trees.

🎯 How does a giraffe drink?

Drinking is hard for a giraffe! It has to spread its front legs wide or bend them so its mouth reaches the water. That's why it gets most of the water it needs from the leaves it eats.