Let’s Look Up To World’s Tallest Animal On World Giraffe Day!

Have you ever wondered why giraffes have those boney little horns? Guess what? They aren’t even called horns, they’re called ossicones!

This is just one of the giraffe facts we learned when we interviewed Renee Moss, a giraffe keeper at Taronga zoo.

Here is the rest of the interview. 

Press Gang: Are giraffes friendly? 

Renae: Generally they are very inquisitive. I’ve worked with giraffes for about 24 years now, so they know me. So I would say they’re quite friendly to me. But being an animal that gets eaten by other animals, they do tend to be nervous at times, so they’re always on alert, but generally, they’re pretty friendly.

Press Gang: What do giraffes eat? 

Renae: They eat leaves in the wild. They often eat a plant called the Acacia, which has some big spikes on it, so they have a really long tongue that helps them to pluck the leaves off. Here at the zoo, hay makes up most of their diet. They get carrots, leafy greens and some hard vegetables like sweet potatoes. They also eat flood pellets, which contain all the vitamins, minerals that they need in their diet. 

And, of course, they also get different types of branches from our horticulture team. The giraffes like to eat the leaves and they’ll also strip the bark if they really, really like the plant.

Press Gang: Why do giraffes have such long necks?

Renae: Lots of animals in the African Savannah like to eat the same diet as the giraffe. So giraffes have evolved over time to have really long necks and really long legs so they can get to the leaves that no other animal on the Savannah can reach. That’s how they’ve survived. They don’t have to compete with any other animals, except for maybe elephants who can take the whole tree down. 

Also having all that extra height and good eyesight means they can see danger approaching from very far away. 

Have you seen giraffe fight before? They use their head and their neck like a club and they slam it into each other’s bodies. So they use that long neck in their fighting behaviour as well.

Press Gang: How tall do giraffes grow? 

Renae: Oh, very tall!  Our, our tallest giraffe here at Taronga Zoo is 5.7 metres tall 

Press Gang: Do giraffes sleep lying down? 

Renae: They don’t lie down like flat on their sides when they sleep, they lie down sort of on their chest with their legs tucked in. And when they’re having a really really deep sleep, they’ll put their heads back on their bottom. But they’ll do that only for a couple of minutes a day. Because it is the riskiest time for them. 

If you’re lucky enough to be in the zoo at nighttime, you will see our giraffes getting cosy in giraffe houses. And they’ll often be just sitting there cause they’re quite relaxed because they know there are no predators around in our exhibit. 

Press Gang: How fast can giraffes run? 

Renae: they can reach a speed of around about 55 kilometres an hour. So they’re pretty fast. But they can’t do it for very long. Because giraffes are so big, they’ve got huge hearts and got the highest blood pressure of any land mammal. So they can only run very fast for short spells of time. 

Press Gang: what sort of noises do giraffes make?

Renae: Little giraffe calves can sort of bleat a little bit and male giraffes, if they’re fighting can make a grumbling sort of noise. But I’ve worked with giraffes for 24 year and I’ve never heard them make a sound. In fact, giraffes are pretty much known for being silent. 

They generally communicate using different body stances and positions. And giraffes also communicate using sounds that we can’t hear. 

Press Gang: How often are baby giraffes born? 

Renae: It takes 16 months for a baby giraffe to develop inside its mum’s tummy. So it’s a very long pregnancy. Once the giraffe’s born, they um, they will feed from their mum for about six to eight months. So a full cycle of being pregnant, giving birth and raising their calf takes about two years. 

Press Gang: Do giraffes have any natural predators?

Renae: Giraffes get preyed on by lions and leopards. These predators will often really prey on baby giraffe because they are quite easy to pull down, or old giraffes or sick giraffes that need to sit down a lot. But strong, healthy giraffes do pretty well in the wild against their natural predators. 

Sadly though, humans have become one of their biggest predators, because their numbers have dropped a fair bit. 

Press Gang: Can giraffes swim? 

Renae: I don’t think they’re built to swim. We have a mote in our exhibit that is like a visual barrier because we know that giraffes won’t go in the water. There was one giraffe that did go into a swimming pool in Africa. But it was very difficult for it to get out. But as a general rule, they’re not really good swimmers.

Press Gang: How long do giraffes live? 

Renae: In the wild, they live into late teens, early twenties. In a zoo they can reach up to 30 years of age because they’ve got excellent keepers like me and my team looking after them. Plus they’ve got great quality food and don’t have predators. 

Press Gang: How many types of giraffe are there? 

This is a bit of a contentious question. Some say that there’s one type of giraffe, with nine different subspecies. But recent studies by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation found that here’s actually four species of giraffe; the northern giraffe, southern giraffe, Masai giraffe and reticulated giraffe

Press Gang: Are giraffes endangered? 

Renae: They are classed as vulnerable. Giraffe numbers have dropped quite rapidly in the last 30 years. 

Press Gang: Why do giraffes have horns? 

Renae: They’re not actually called horns, they’re called osicones and they are made out of cartilage. (like human ears). When a baby giraffe is born, they’re flattened to the skull. And then about two weeks into their life they pop up. Then over the next five years they ossify, which is where they get that cool name from. Ossifying means they get really hard and become part of the skull.

The boys have bigger ossicones than girls because they use their heads to fight over the rights to bread with girls. The ossicones help to protect their brain a bit like an inbuilt crash helmet and also make the heads heavier, so they swing better. 

Press Gang: What is your favourite thing about giraffes? 

Renae: They’re very smart. We do lots of training with our giraffes and they’re very smart. They are quite trusting as well, once they get to know you. They’re gentle giants so that’s why they’re, they’re my favourite animals.