Wildlife Africa- Giraffe Behavior

HABITAT	Savanna with high proportion of Acacia species.
HABITS	Giraffe are semi gregarious animals, and can be found in groups of about 7 or 8 individuals, or singly( normally old bulls). Concentrations of 40 and 50 Giraffe are common. It as nothing to do with social ties, but rather with a concentration of their favored foods on that specific location. Although they are one of the favorite prey of Lion, very often the predator will come off second best, as Giraffe can deliver devastating blows with their forelegs. Fighting amongst Giraffe bulls is not uncommon, and is limited to an alternate strike at each other with their heads. Giraffe associate, very often, with Impala, Baboons, Zebra and Willdebeest. Although they have an extremely long neck, it has the same amount of vertebrae as any other mammal, but they very elongated an attached to one another with ball and socket joints. Giraffe have a massive heart, with walls more than 7 centimeter thick, in order to pump the blood about 2,5 meters up to the brain. Male Giraffe can attain a height of about 5,5 meters and weigh about 1500 Kg.
DIET	Giraffe are Browsers.
BREEDING	They give birth for the first time at about 6 years of age, to a single calf, that after a couple of hours is able to follow his mother. The gestation period is about 15 months.

ORDER	FAMILY	Scientific name
Artiodactyla	Giraffidae	Giraffa camelopardalis (Linnaeus,1758)