Giraffes Reading Comprehension Lesson

Built for Height

The giraffe is the tallest animal on Earth. Adult male giraffes, called bulls, can stand up to 18 feet tall — about as tall as a two-story building. Even newborn calves are already about six feet tall when they enter the world. Giraffes live on the savannas, grasslands, and open woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa, where their extraordinary height gives them access to food that no other animal can reach. Giraffes feed primarily on the leaves and buds of acacia trees, using their long tongues — which can be up to 18 inches long — to strip leaves from thorny branches.

A giraffe’s neck alone can be six feet long and contains the same number of vertebrae — seven — as a human neck. The long neck requires a powerful heart to pump blood all the way up to the brain. A giraffe’s heart is enormous: it weighs about 25 pounds and pumps blood at very high pressure to overcome gravity. When a giraffe lowers its head to drink water, specialized valves in its neck arteries prevent the sudden rush of blood to the brain from causing it to pass out.

Giraffes have large, dark eyes and excellent vision — they can see in color and detect movement from great distances. Because of their height, giraffes often serve as sentinels on the savanna. Other animals, such as zebras and antelope, pay attention to where giraffes are looking, using them as an early-warning system against approaching predators. Despite their gentle reputation, giraffes are capable of defending themselves. A single kick from a giraffe’s powerful legs can kill a lion. Adult giraffes are rarely attacked by predators, though young calves are vulnerable to lions and leopards.

Social Life and Conservation

Giraffes are social animals that live in loose groups called towers. Unlike elephants or lions, giraffe social groups are not tightly bonded — individuals come and go freely. Females with calves tend to stay together for protection, while adult males are more solitary and spend much of their time competing with each other for the right to mate. Male giraffes compete using a behavior called necking: two males stand side by side and swing their long necks like pendulums, striking each other with the hard bony bumps on their heads, called ossicones. These battles, while dramatic, rarely result in serious injury.

Giraffes sleep very little — only about two hours per day — and can go for weeks without drinking water by getting moisture from the leaves they eat. When they do drink, they must spread their front legs wide apart or bend them at the knees to reach the water, which puts them in a vulnerable position for predators. They usually drink quickly and keep watch while doing so.

Giraffes are currently classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Their population has declined by more than 30 percent over the past three decades due to habitat loss, illegal hunting, and civil unrest in the regions where they live. Conservation organizations are working to protect giraffe habitat, reduce poaching, and reintroduce giraffes to areas where they have been wiped out. Four of the nine recognized giraffe subspecies are now listed as endangered or critically endangered, making conservation efforts increasingly urgent.

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