Giraffes

There are nine recognized subspecies of giraffes. Native to Africa and each subspecies have differing color patterns. The giraffe, like humans have seven vertebra in their necks. However, it also has a pumping ventrical in its neck to help the blood move and the giraffe's heart up to twenty gallons of blood every minute (that is almost 4x the amount of the human heart). The run up to 35 miles an hour and have four stomachs. Male giraffes can grow up to 18 feet tall and weigh anywhere from 2000-38000 pounds. Female giraffes are usually shorter and thinner. At birth, a giraffe is usually about six feet tall. Within an hour of being born, they are standing and nursing though the are usually hidden for about a month by their mother to protect them from predators. A giraffe can survive weeks without a natural water source, often times extracting water from the vegetation they consume.

In their natural habitat, giraffe's usualy wander in herds of about 15. In the high plains of Texas, the giraffes happen to herd up in groups of about 25. At least that is the case in my house. And they don't wander to much. Instead they sit on shelves and I admire them many times a day and when remember the wonderful day I fed a giraffe at the zoo.









That does make for a total of 76 giraffes on those shelves. I also have a vest, a pin, a picutre, a magnet and a giraffe bank that are not pictured. Making a grand total of 81 giraffes. I bet my grandmother never suspected a thing when she gave me the first giraffe when I was six, huh?