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Giraffes can survive when water is scarce because they obtain most of their water from the 75 pounds of foliage they eat each day, especially from the acacia tree.
They have elongated, prehensile tongues that allow them to pick and choose individual leaves when they eat.
To keep it from becoming light-headed, the giraffe’s elastic blood vessels contain a series of valves and even a muscle in the jugular vein to control blood flow when the animal lifts and lowers its head.
The giraffe’s heart is 40 times heavier than a human’s. Its blood pressure is very high, allowing it to pump 16 gallons of blood per minute from its head all the way down to its feet and back again.
Giraffe fetuses gestate inside their mothers for 15 months, emerging as 150-pound, six-foot-tall babies. A giraffe mother usually gives birth standing up and the newborn drops six feet to the ground.
