Audrey Freeman, age 8, of Charlotte, N.C., for her question:
WHY DOES A GIRAFFE HAVE SUCH A LONG NECK?
Mother giraffe will carry her baby inside her body for 14 or 15 months before giving birth. She has only one baby at a time, except in rare cases when she has twins. The baby is called a calf and may weigh 150 pounds and stand six feet tall. Baby is nursed by the mother for about 10 months but will start eating plants at about two weeks.
Tallest of all animals in the world is the giraffe. An adult male is often 18 feet tall, which is about five feet taller than the second tallest animal, the African elephant.
The giraffe’s legs are six feet long and the neck is even a bit longer. Although he weighs a hefty 2,000 pounds, the elephant may weigh six times as much.
Native country for the giraffe is Africa, south of the Sahara, on the grasslands called savannas. Favorite food items for the tall guy are leaves, twigs and fruit found on the trees growing in the savannas. And that, undoubtedly, is Mother Nature’s reason for giving the giraffe such a long neck: it provides a perfect way for the animal to obtain his hard to reach food.
A giraffe’s stomach is like a cow’s. He will chew his cud, which is food that has entered his stomach and has been returned to the mouth for a second chewing.
Patches of brownish yellow markings, separated by lines of a tawny color or white, help to give the giraffe excellent protection. When standing in the shade of a tree, the giraffe is often almost invisible to other creatures.
When sand is blowing or the air is dusty, the giraffe has the ability to completely close his nostrils. He has excellent hearing and vision. Although he seldom uses his voice, he does have the ability to make a number of soft sounds.
A long tongue, which measures 17 inches, as well as a long upper lip come in very handy when it comes time to gather food from a tree’s upper branches.
Even though he holds all kinds of records for neck length, the giraffe only has seven neck bones. This is the same number found in most other mammals and man.
A giraffe’s hoofs are split into two parts, just like those of cattle, hogs, deer and antelopes. Each part is made up of a hardened tip and one toe.
The giraffe’s closet relative is the okapi.
Lions are the only animals that attack adult giraffes, although wild hunting dogs and leopards sometimes kill young giraffes. A lion will have to catch his victim either lying down or spring onto the giraffe’s back from ambush. If they meet face to face, chances are good that the giraffe will escape. First he defends himself by kicking, and then he takes off in a run for the back country.