Animals Mammals

Reticulated Giraffe

SCIENTIFIC NAME:

Giraffa camelopardalis

PROFILE:

The giraffe lives mainly on dry savannas and in open woodlands and can browse higher than any other mammal. It usually sleeps standing up but occasionally lies down. When upright, its heart has to pump blood upward at enormous pressure to reach its brain. You can see and even feed our giraffes in the Giants of the Savanna exhibit.

TYPE OF ANIMAL:

mammal, cetartiodactyla (even-toed ungulate)

NATIVE TO:

Africa, Middle East, India (vagrant in some parts of its range; thought to be extinct in Iran)

IUCN CONSERVATION STATUS:

least concern

DIET:

herbivore

LIFESPAN:

wild - average 10-15 years; zoos - average 20-27 years

SOCIAL STATUS:

social; herds vary in size from 10 to 20 individuals