Giraffe – Appearance and anatomy
Giraffe skeleton on display at the Museum of Osteology, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Fully grown giraffes stand 4.3–5.7 m (14.1–18.7 ft) tall, with males taller than females.[45][46][47] The tallest recorded male was 5.88 m (19.3 ft) and the tallest recorded female was 5.17 m (17.0 ft) tall.[45][48] The average weight is 1,192 kg (2,628 lb) for an adult male and 828 kg (1,825 lb) for an adult female[49] with maximum weights of 1,930 kg (4,250 lb) and 1,180 kg (2,600 lb) having been recorded for males and females, respectively.[46][47] Despite its long neck and legs, the giraffe’s body is relatively short.[50]:66 Located at both sides of the head, the giraffe’s large, bulging eyes give it good all-round vision from its great height.[51]:25 Giraffes see in colour[51]:26 and their senses of hearing and smell are also sharp.[52] The animal can close its muscular nostrils to protect against sandstorms and ants.[51]:27
The giraffe’s prehensile tongue is about 45 cm (18 in) long.[46][47] It is purplish-black in colour, perhaps to protect against sunburn, and is useful for grasping foliage, as well as for grooming and cleaning the animal’s nose.[51]:27 The upper lip of the giraffe is also prehensile and useful when foraging, and is covered in hair to protect against thorns. The tongue and inside of the mouth are covered in papillae.[8]
The coat has dark blotches or patches (which can be orange, chestnut, brown, or nearly black in colour[52]) separated by light hair (usually white or cream in colour.[52]) Male giraffes become darker as they age.[43] The coat pattern has been claimed to serve as camouflage in the light and shade patterns of savannah woodlands.[44] When standing among trees and bushes, they are hard to see at even a few metres distance. However, adult giraffes move about to gain the best view of an approaching predator, relying on their size and ability to defend themselves rather than on camouflage, which may be more important for calves.[11] Each individual giraffe has a unique coat pattern.[43] Giraffe calves inherit some coat pattern traits from their mothers, and variation in some spot traits are correlated with neonatal survival.[53] The skin underneath the blotches may serve as windows for thermoregulation, being sites for complex blood vessel systems and large sweat glands.[54]
The skin of a giraffe is mostly gray,[49] or tan.[55] Its thickness allows the animal to run through thorn bushes without being punctured.[51]:34 The fur may serve as a chemical defence, as its parasite repellents give the animal a characteristic scent. At least 11 main aromatic chemicals are in the fur, although indole and 3-methylindole are responsible for most of the smell. Because the males have a stronger odour than the females, the odour may also have sexual function.[56] Along the animal’s neck is a mane made of short, erect hairs.[8] The one-metre (3.3-ft) tail ends in a long, dark tuft of hair and is used as a defense against insects.[51]:36
Two specimens of dwarf giraffes were found in Namibia and Uganda, named Gimli and Nigel.[57] These dwarfs had long necks but shorter legs, key features of skeletal dysplasia.[58]
