By Brittany Groves,Elm Street School

The giraffe is the tallest animal in the world. They are about five feet taller than an African Elephant. The giraffe is located in the open woodlands of Africa, south of the Sahara. The giraffe has chestnut colored spots with white lines separating the spots. This pattern protects them by making it hard to see them when they are standing among the trees. Two horns covered in skin and hair grows from the giraffe’s skull. The giraffe has seven bones in its neck. An average male giraffes height can be about seventeen feel. An average female giraffe’s height can be about fourteen feet. It can weigh around a maximum of 2,600 pounds for a male.

The giraffe eats leaves, twigs, and fruit off bushes and trees. The giraffe does a routine when it eats. It chews a cud, which is food that enters the stomach, but returns to the mouth for a second chewing. The giraffe lasts many weeks without water.

When the giraffe gets pregnant, it carries the baby for fifteen months. There is one baby per litter, except for when the giraffe has twins. When the baby calf is born, they can stand at six feet tall and weigh as much as 150 pounds. The mother will nurse the calf milk nine to ten months. The females can start to breed at five years old. The life span of a giraffe is twenty-eight years.

Today, most giraffes live in national parks and game preserves because humans used to hunt them. African tribes use their tail hairs for bracelets and string. They use the giraffe’s hide for a shield.