Giraffe

Appearance
It's a unmistakable animal, a very long neck, sloping back and very long limbs. The Giraffe is the tallest animal in the world. It could reach almost 6 meters at the top of the head and 4 meters at the shoulders. Color pattern consists of chestnut brown cut into patches by a network of light lines with are very variable in sizes and shapes. They have one pair of small frontal horns covered with skin and a medial horn, sometimes only a 'knob', on the forehead. Females are smaller than male, lighter in color and with smaller horns.

There are several subspecies of the Giraffe, grouped in Northern or Southern species. The easiest way to distinguee them is that the Northern Giraffes has white legs.

Habits
The Giraffe lives in dry and open country covered with bush and acacia. They may go into light woodland but never into dense forests. They lives in herds with 2-40 heads dominated by a big bull and lead by a female but the herds are loose associated. Bulls without herds could be solitary or forming their own groups.

They can gallop at a good speed, but in a curious manner. The hind feet are swung forward and outward and they move their legs straightly in pairs, not diagonally as a horse.

Eating Habits
The giraffe browse on leaves and twigs of a large variety of trees. Thorns do not harm them. They spend most of the day and part of the night feeding but they do not necessarily drink every day. When they do drink they have to spread their forelegs wide apart in a peculiar movement to bring down their head to the water level. This is the moment when they are most vulnerable, mainly preyed upon by lions.