Giraffe – The facts
The average gestation period for giraffe is approximately 15
months (453-464 days).
Giraffe give birth in a ‘calving ground’ and mothers will often
return to where they were born to have their own babies.
Giraffe have no formal breeding seasons as they are
designed to be able to shift feeding patterns in order to
maintain a high nutrient diet throughout most of the year.
Calving is often synchronized to provide safety in numbers
against predators. Giraffe give birth standing up, requiring
the newborn to fall just under 2 meters to the ground!
Designed for such an abrupt entry into the world, a newborn
calf can stand up and run within an hour of being born.
Guess That! The average height at birth is just under 2
metres with a tendency for the females to be very slightly
smaller than the males. A newborn calf weighs about 100kg.
A newborn giraffe will suckle its mother’s milk as soon as it
can stand up. Calves are drinking on their mother’s milk for
up to 9-12 months. Solid food (leaves) can be eaten from
about 4 months at which time calves begin to be not a calf.
The first few months of a giraffe’s life are the most
vulnerable, because the predators such as lions, hyenas,
hunting dogs and leopards all see a baby giraffe as prey. The
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African Giraffe
giraffe mothers are extremely protective and will meter out
a powerful kick to any other animal that comes too close.
During the first few days a newborn giraffe will be left sitting
in grasses while the mother goes off to feed, but after a few
weeks the youngster is introduced to the rest of the herd
and nursery groups are formed where one mother will ‘keep
watch’ while the others have a chance to go and find food.
Male calves will leave their mothers at about 15 months and
form all-male groups. The female juveniles however don’t
leave until they are about 18 months old and stay in the
same areas as the family herd they grew up in.
-Well, I told you how is a Giraffe, Now I’m going to tell you
the life of a Giraffe in AfricaReproduction
Giraffe gestation lasts 400–460 days, after which a single calf
is normally born, although twins occur on rare occasions.
The mother gives birth standing up. The calf emerges head
and front legs first, having broken through the fetal
membranes, and falls to the ground, severing the umbilical
cord. The mother then grooms the newborn and helps it
stand up. A newborn giraffe is about 1.8 m (6 ft) tall. Within
a few hours of birth, the calf can run.
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African Giraffe
Food
the twigs of trees,are important sources of calcium and
protein to sustain the giraffe's growth rate. They also feed
on shrubs, grass and fruit. A giraffe eats around 34 kg of
foliage daily
Conservation
Conservation efforts since the 1990s have led to a sizable
growth in population, though largely limited to the
single Dosso herd. From a low of 50 individuals, in 2007
there were some 175 wild individuals, 250 in 2010, and 310
in the Nigerien government's 2011
count.Intensive efforts have been
made within Niger, especially in the
area just north of the Dosso Partial
Faunal
Reserve.Giraffe habitat consists
mainly of savanna, sahel, and dry,
open woodland, especially those
regions with an abundance of acacia,
a small thorny tree, which is one of
the giraffe's favorite foods. Giraffes
also enjoy the leaves of mimosas and
apricots.
Treeless grasslands with low
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African Giraffe
vegetation are not ideal for giraffes because it's hard for
them to reach down far enough to eat off the ground.
Historically, the giraffe existed throughout most of Africa.
Today, however, it occurs naturally only in the subSaharanregions of the continent, ranging from southern
Malit
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African Giraffe
o Kenya, and south to northern South Africa (see map
below).
Giraffes gather around rivers and waterholes during the dry
season, but move into open, deciduous woodlands during
the rains (Leuthold and Leuthold, 1978). These migrations
usually cover about 20-30 km. The movements of giraffes,
however, are far less constrained by the availability of water.
They can go without water for many weeks, if not months.
Giraffes are active during the night and cooler hours (giraffes
sleep less than two hours a day), but rest during the heat of
the day.
Expanding human activities, overhunting, and changes in
climate have drastically reduced giraffe populations in recent
years, especially in western Africa where the local race of the
giraffe, peralta, is now classified as endangered by the IUCN.
Different kinds of skin’s giraffe
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African Giraffe