Giraffing Around in Kenya
While in Nairobi we took a visit to the local Giraffe center. It’s a fun little place where you can get up-close & personal with giraffes. It’s definitely the closest I’ve ever come. One licked my face (see the video at bottom) and another came within inches of successfully head-butting me into the street as I was photographing him. Evidently they prefer food to pictures. Fascinating creatures! Heading into to The Sudan tomorrow….
Amazing Giraffe Facts
Giraffe saliva really is antiseptic. They eat acacia trees, which are covered in thorns, so their faces get cut a lot, so they’ve evolved antiseptic saliva to deal with it a little. Also some of the trees they eat have a symbiotic relationship with ants where the tree produces sugar for the ants and when the giraffe tries to eat the leaves, the ants run into the giraffe’s mouth and nose and sting it. One of the reasons giraffes have such long tongues is to lick the ants out of their noses.
- A new born giraffe measures about 6 feet.
- A giraffe is one of the animals who is born with a horn.
- Each giraffe has a unique coat pattern.
- The tongue of an adult giraffe measures 27″.
- Giraffes are vegetarians and live on the leaves of the baobab tree.
- Every step a giraffe takes is 15 feet in length.
- The giraffe is able to grasp objects such as leaves with the help of its tongue.
- Giraffes sleep for no more than 5 to 30 minutes in 24 hours.
- Luckily, giraffes have elastic blood vessels in their necks, this makes it possible for them to drink water from a stream, without fainting.
- Neck wrestling matches are often held to show authority in their herds.