How are giraffes adapted?
Giraffes are well adapted to a life in a savannah. They drink water when it is aivailable but can go weeks without it, they rely on morning dew and the water content of their food. Their very long necks are an adaption to feeding at high levels in the treetops.
What is a behavioral adaptation of a giraffe?
Behavioral Adaptations Giraffes are graceful as they walk on their long legs, but struggle to lay down and stand up. To avoid this vulnerability, giraffes often sleep standing up and rest their heads on their backs.
What are 2 behavioral adaptations of a giraffe?
A behavioral adaptation giraffes make when they drink water is to gulp it. Gulping is drinking a lot of liquid quickly without choking. Giraffes gulp as much as 10 gallons of water in a few minutes. They have also adapted the ability to go a long time without drinking a lot of water.
How does a giraffe adapt to its environment?
As you can imagine the giraffe’s neck is very heavy and it requires a special adaptation to carry such a long neck upright.
What do giraffes do with their long necks?
Social adaptation A giraffe extends its long neck to sleep, reach food, look out for danger and for male giraffes to establish dominance during mating. But half the time giraffes use their necks to graze on plants and leaves below their shoulder level.
What do giraffes do in the morning and evening?
Giraffes eat and drink in the morning and in the evening. Then when they go to sleep, they sleep standing up with there heads resting on there legs. Adult males gain dominance by sparring with other male giraffes. Sparring is when two giraffes stand straight up parallel to each other.
How big do giraffes get when they go to sleep?
A giraffe’s height and weight become cumbersome when it is time to go to sleep; adult male giraffes get as tall as 19 feet and weigh as much as 3,000 lbs., and adult female giraffes grow as tall as 16 feet and weigh up to 2,400 lbs. Lying down to go to sleep presents a problem if a giraffe has to get up quickly to run from an approaching predator.
What is the evolution of a giraffe?
The accepted theory on giraffe evolution is that the giraffes with the longest necks passed on their genes through natural selection, and that it took millions of years to get the animal we see now. The two forces that drove giraffes towards elongating their necks are simple. The need to eat and the need to breed.
What is the ancestor of a giraffe?
Giraffa jumae was most likely the direct ancestor of the modern giraffe. G. jumae had a wider range than modern giraffes, extending from the modern giraffe’s homeland in sub-Saharan Africa through the modern Middle East as far as Asia Minor. They closely resembled modern giraffes, but grew about 1 meter taller.
What are the traits of a giraffe?
Giraffes have long legs and necks, long, tough, prehensile tongues, and leathery mouths for food gathering. Their coloration is protective. They are tall with good eyesight for watchfulness. Giraffes have high blood pressure (240/160) for pumping blood to the brain.
What are giraffes behavior?
Giraffe Behavior. Giraffes are social animals. Female giraffes associate in groups called herds, occasionally including a few younger males. Mature males live in “bachelor” herds and fight for dominance using their necks. older males are usually solitary. Giraffes feed and drink during the morning and evening.