Scientific name -- Giraffa spp.
Size -- up to 4200 lbs. and 17' high
Diet -- leaves

Giraffes are browsers on trees, which most herbivores cannot reach. Because of the poor nutritional quality of leaves, giraffes must eat great quantities and spend up to twenty hours a day eating. Giraffes live in scattered herds or are solitary. Because of their extremely long necks, giraffes have special veins and valves to prevent blackouts when they lower their heads. Lions, hyenas and leopards prey on giraffe calves, but the adults are large enough and fast enough (35 miles per hour in a sprint) to have few predators. Giraffes make almost no sounds. Baby giraffes experience a six-foot drop to the ground when they are born if the mother is standing during birth, which is often.