How Giraffes Work

thing that's happened in a long time. It really is. Um. So, we did a show in Vancouver on uh September something, right, in real time, it was last week for us. We usually don't turn stuff around this fast, right, exactly. Um. And a lot of times we'll do Q and A after a show because we're like, the podcast isn't enough. We ope people more than that, so we'll do a Q and A. Right, that's right. And the last question of the of the night was this cute little girl

just adorable and her name was Mika. Wasn't it yeah? Okay, and Mika had a special request Chuck him what was it? Well, it kind of went down like this. Mieka's dad walks her up to the microphone. Everyone turns their attention to this adorable six year old and in front of what was it like a thousand and twelve people, she said, can you do a podcast on your raff's and twelve hundred hearts melted and immediately like afterwards, you were and I were like, well, we're doing this as soon as

we get back. Yeah, that's right, and this this is where we're at. We did it. Yeah, and you know what it's Uh, Mika, you were not alone because giraffes are amazing, as you will see in greater detail. Uh, and you're not alone among your peers because I gotta tell you as the father of a two year old daughter, uh, and Jerry as the mom of a two year old, they're all obsessed with giraffes. Yeah, it's true. You Me and I started our niece Mila actually off on giraffes

pretty early. Yeah. And and like there's there's some of the most adorable stuffed animals are toys around. So I mean it's understandable how it would stick any kids crawl like that. Well yeah, I mean they look, uh, nothing like things that they've seen yet enough like things they've seen, I think at that age to where they think, well I've seen a horse or a horse, or I've seen a zebra, but this is I've seen a camel even, and those things look a little weird. But then a

giraffe comes along, and small minds are blown. They are blown so much that I suspect that they're giraffes in the little angel holding bay where babies stay before they come down here to And yes, they want to say small minds, it's not to say children are small minded. No, No, like maybe literally small minded, but not in the figure to adult sense physiologically speaking. There you go, right, So everybody knows what giraffes are. You can point to a picture of a giraffe and say what is this, and

the person will say it's a giraffe. It's a pretty common thing to do. Maybe the arguably the best Charlie Harper illustration of all time is the mother and baby giraffe snuggling. Look it up. I'll send it to You're gonna love it. It's just adorable. Um, So everyone's quite familiar with drafts, but giraffes are one of those animals that we found from our research are just taken for granted. Like everyone's like, everyone's like, look at those things are amazing,

but let's just leave it at that. Apparently it was how science approached giraffes for millennia. Basically, Yeah, in fact, uh, these evolutionary wonders, and boy aren't they like in every sense of the word. Uh. For many many millennia, human dum dums referred to these an moles as camel leopards, right, with a tidy little hyphen in between the two, to really show that they had clearly a camel and a leopard had gotten it on at some point and created

the giraffe. Yeah, which I mean, it makes a little bit of sense. They are sort of camel like with their necks and their kind of long legs and hoofs. But then also you look at the giraffe's coat and that amazing leopard like pattern. So it sort of makes sense that human dumb dumbs would say stuff like that, right,

because they didn't understand evolution. And even like Mr. Evolution himself, Charles Darwin was like, I'm not even getting into the giraffe for a while, right, the giraffe debate, Yeah, so he he um. He started waiting into where the giraffe got its neck, because by the time Darwin came along. They had said, okay, we're they're not camel leopards. We know that much, all right, everybody stopped making one of us. Um. But also, let's give it a scientific name, giraffa gamelo

part alice. Yeah, which is a nod to the dumb dumbs of your right. So, by the time Darwin got in on on this, he had written on the origin of the species. Um. But it was the sixth edition before the giraffe makes an appearance in it. Yeah, I'm sure Mika has already read that. Sure, that's where that's why she was asking. She was hoping we could expound

on that. So um. Darwin suggested that potentially the giraffe's neck evolved because in times of drought or famine, where other animals were starving and dropping like flies, the giraffe neck gave it an advantage to reach leaves on trees that other animals couldn't. So it was quite quite literally rising above the competition natural selection wise, right, Yeah, and

that that's got to be it, right. Well, one of the reasons that one of the issues that's raised against it is that giraffe still feed at the same level as other animals like a pretty significant amount of the time, I guess, so they're like some for me and I'll have some of yours too. Yeah, I don't know. I can't think of any other reason it makes complete sense. Well, there's another guy, Jean Baptiste Lamark, who was pretty credible

as far as old timey scientists go. Um, and Lamarck said, I think they're an antelope that just stretches its neck further and further and further. And he lost all credibility. But that's there's still there. They're not entirely certain what precisely it is that gave the giraffe it's neck, um, because you don't you don't see that elsewhere in nature. It's not an adaptation that that is pretty common, like eyes or hearing or flight. It's its own thing, um

in a lot of ways. But there are some other long neck animals like swans or something like that. But you're aft are mammals and aside from that really long neck and a couple of other things that they've had to um change uh or adapt to because of their long neck and other features. Um, they're they're nothing like

other long necked animals. Yeah, that's right. And the long neck club they stand alone exactly, all right, So let's start, um, let's start with classification and taxonomy and that kind of thing, because that's you know, that sort of lays the ground work for what we're talking about here, uh, technically speaking, drafts or what you would call an even toad undulate,

which is kind of a fancy way of saying. They have just to weight bearing hoofs on each foot like a camel in there, right, yeah, I believe so not a leopard though, No, No, a leopard with hosts would not be much of a leopard, let's be honest. Uh. And they are in an order called R. T O dactyla uh, and that does include the antelope, to be fair, but also includes things like sheep and moose and hippo's cows, cows pigs a little weirdly but maybe not because they

have the little hoofs. Uh. What else? Well? There, So their family is giraffe Ada, and in the giraffe a family, there's two genera, right, yes, there's the Giraffea genus and the Ocapia genus. And they they split they think now about eleven million years ago and still today you can walk around in Africa and find the okapi. But the O copy looks way more like it's related to a horse or a zebra than it does to a giraffe. Right, Yeah, did you see those things? Yeah, I've seen them before.

They're they're pretty neat. They're like, um, chocolate colored with like zebra striped legs. Yeah, it literally looks like it's an animal. That said, I don't know what I want to be. I like you guys. I like you guys, So I really would just like to sort of both of you. Right, is this social butterfly? It's very pretty animal. And then over in the giraffe genus, they they there's

basically one species as far as anyone is concerned. So like any giraffe you ever see, even if it looks different from all the other giraffes, you see, it was the species um Giraffa Camela pardals like you said, right, um. But there's a two thousand and sixteen study that was carried up by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation and it was published in the journal Current Biology, and they said, you know, all these little subspecies that we've been saying are actually

the same species of giraffe. There is just variations. They're actually different species. There's four giraffe species. Yeah, but that's not the like that study was just last year and now they're saying that that's not the case. So uh oh is that right? Well, and't that what it says? It said? Uh well, I think it's more like the wheels of biological science as the academic field moves slowly. Okay, so they're they're findings are supposedly legitimate, but they're just

not saying. They didn't put the stamp of authenticity on it. Not yet. Okay, they probably will in the future, but they're like, just just give us some time. We just made some tea as scientists or one to do. So let's do you wanna take a break? All right, We'll take a break and crane our necks up and get some some food to sustain ourselves and then talk a little bit about these awesome, awesome necks right after this. Okay, chuck. So there was not a lot of study in the

field of giraffes. Everybody was just like, that's neat. Giraffes are cool. Let's just leave it at that, especially in the field specifically like out in their natural habitat. They weren't studied, um killed by poachers, but not necessarily studied. Right, So most of the understanding we had of giraffes was of captive giraffes that were being held hostage and zoos, right, but from those we got like a pretty decent amount

of at least anatomical understanding of them. Yeah, and I mean, we just have to add this to the list of the jellyfish and the octopus. Um, what bats? What else are we forgetting? Oh man, there's just one another one that we did. We did one recently, I guess frogs. Yeah, like all animals. Yeah, any animal we cover we find fascinating. You notice we haven't done one on the common house cat. No, we probably should though, because I'm I'm a cat lover. I feel like that would be like doing an episode

on gamers, like just inviting trouble, you know what I mean? Well, yeah, I mean I love cats, of course I do. But I just don't know that it's like in the same category as an octopus when it comes to amazement and astonishment. That's true, you know. Although we did speak about them for a while and uh the what was it? Domestic Animals episode Tommy, Yeah, I think so, you spoken and of course talks a plasmosis. Oh yeah, weird. It's ugly head, all right, because like, get back to it, guys, I

don't really care about that stuff. I hate cats. Uh So they are the tallest living animal in the world. And it says in here and this is kind of reminded me of something that a draft can look in at second story window and um, I just saw recently. I had no idea this existed, but giraffe manner in Nairobi, there are this is a hotel and it is a uh it's what do you call it? Not I mean, they'd work with conservation but um an eco lodge. Well, I guess it's that too, but it's uh, I can't

think of the right name. But what it is, it's a it's a hotel and they work to help giraffes that are in trouble and help to introduce troubled giraffes into the wilds like a home for juvenile delinquent giraffes. Yeah, and like a rehabilitation center. Um and I just saw this for the first time a couple of weeks ago.

And there are pictures of people dining and eating in a second story window and giraffes sticking their heads right through them and eating fruit off a plate and people just thinking I'm getting cheated out on my breakfast and it's the best time I can remember that happening. So it's amazing. And now I want to, uh, like, I think Emily and I are gonna try and go on a safari. So we're dying to go on a safari. I just need to find out a good one that's

like ecologically sound. And I don't know anything about safari, so I don't know if they're like bad or they're good, or if they're good ones and bad ones, but I'm gonna I'm gonna check it out, and we're definitely gonna go stay in the hotel. The first question I think you want to ask of a safari operators, do you use cattle prods? Yeah? That's oh, I'm sure some people do for sure. Yeah, And hey, if anyone knows of like a really sustainable, well uh, well done safari, let

me know. Sure, we're in the market. So what is it called giraffe manner? Okay? So yeah, they can um, they are just super tall and the reason why they're super taller. There's two reasons. One is obviously their neck. Their neck alone is like six ft long, right, and there again, there are other long necked animals out there in nature, like swans, but mammals are Giraffes are mammals, and they have the same number of cervical vertebrae um that other mammals do. They're just really big cervical ver

to break. Right, So each vertebra um of a giraffe's neck is about eleven inches in length. That's crazy. And there's seven of them and you put them all together and you've got about a six ft long neck. Yes, but they also have really long legs too that are also about six ft long. Yeah, So six foot long legs, six ft long neck, and you have giraffes female because

they still have other body parts. Females can grow up to fourteen feet way about fifteen hundred pounds, and males can grow up to eighteen ft tall and way about three thousand pounds. Yeah, for males it's like five and a half meters tall, and so they're big. They're big, big animals. But they're also known as like gentle giants too, like they're not very violent animals, as we'll see true. Although if you're into the sweet giraffe, do not look

up videos of male giraffe s fighting. I know it's disturbing. It's very disturbing, and you just want to think like, oh man, you guys should just always like each other, Like why do friends fight? Pretty much? Yeah? Um, so part of being tall like this, it presents some amazing evolutionary traits and some challenges that thankfully the draft has overcome. They have Let's let's talk about their nerve cells. If you've got a neck that long, you're gonna everything is

just stretched out. So there, for instance, their recurrent uh laryngeal nerve, which this activates their larynx helps them in swallowing because they're gonna need little help swallowing down that long neck. That thing is fifteen ft long in itself, because it starts in the brain, goes down the neck,

and then loops back up to the throat. Right, And we have one of those two and it's actually pointed to is proof that it's evolution not creation that UM accounts for us because it's just such a poor work around UM. But it's it's fifteen ft long in giraffes, right, So it's a nerve fiber. Um nerve fibers are made of bundled nerve cells. So that means that if you separated these things, if you make made up of fifteen foot long cells. Yeah, that's nuts, it really is. Is

that your fact of the show. There's about fifty of those in here. I think you're right. Uh So, if you've ever been to a a wildlife refuge that's the word I was thinking of, um or a zoo, let's say, um, and you've seen a giraffe up close and personal. The one thing that you will notice, and some some zoos will even have times a day where you can feed

the giraffes, which is pretty amazing. But the first thing you'll probably notice, aside from their their neck when they get up face to face, is aside from their friendly eyes, is the size of their tongue when they go licking stuff. And they have a very active tongue that things always moving around, it seems like. But these tongues are almost two ft long. They can be twenty one inches in length. Yes, and not only are they they long, they're also prehensile.

They have the ability to grasp things, as we'll see later. Right, right, So there, they have enormous tongues, they have feet that are about a foot across, about a third of a meter across, right, Um, and their hearts, Chuck, I think this might be the fact of the show for me. Well,

let me take it. Well, their hearts. If you talk about a giraffe as a is a big hearted animal, you can say that in every sense of the word, because the heart of a giraffe is two ft long and weighs about twenty pounds, which meek up for you. It's eleven, that's right. So they have this huge heart and you're like, well, of course they have a huge heart.

You're dummy. It's a huge animal, that's true. But prepare for this if you did based on body mass proportionately a giraffe's organs, like it's a heart or its lungs that can take in an enormous amount of air at one time, twelve gallons. Right, they're not, they're they're not. They're they're average. They're they're just about average in size. Right, So the giraffe is actually faced with a couple of

issues here, right. If it's if its heart is proportionately speaking, normal size, but its neck is way longer than other mammals. It has an issue, and its legs are way longer than other animals. Has a secondary issue. Right, so you would think, well, it needs a huge heart, and it's again though it's hard, is not proportionately up to the task.

So there's been other adaptations that the giraffe underwent over time to to allow for it to not say faint when it suddenly lifts its head up after drinking water, or for blood not to collect and pool in its legs. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. So the way this works is the heart of a giraffe, uh is really really thick, so it has a very thick wall, and so that means it can pump blood at a super high pressure about five times that of a human heart. So that sort

of solves that problem. It gets blood going uh where it needs to go as effectively as possible. And then they have a really tough coat and a tough hide. And the way this article put it is it sort of acts like a compression sock but around the whole body, so that basically just helps the blood counteract the gravity of pumping all the way up that long neck to the brain, right exactly. It keeps it from just like it keeps it also from collecting or pooling in places

that shouldn't. Just keeps everything running smoothly, you know, like those big feet. Yeah, so it's pretty interesting stuff, right, agreed. Um, And you were talking about the coat as well. And one thing Um I saw in research is that the jiraffe coat is unique to the individual like our fingerprints or iris print is, which I hadn't really thought about, which makes total sense. You know, giraffes are all unique individual little flowers, snowflakes if you will, sure just good

giant liberal mammals. Uh, Mika, you can ask your dad about that joke. So, uh, when you look at a draft, you might have think like, well, yeah drafts, Um, they all just sort of have the Maybe it's unique, but the patterns are all basically the same, not exactly true. Depending on where the draff lives and what they eat. Uh, they're gonna have a different sort of pattern going on. And then each one is unique into itself. So in Kenya,

the I'm gonna call it a Massai giraffe. Uh, they have they have the pattern that look like the oak leaves, very very pretty pattern, right. And then there's um Uganda giraffes. They have like big large brown splotches um with uh lines like lighter brown lines separating the splotches like a giraffe. That's the one. You think of what I think of when I think giraffes, I think of all the mins drafts. Uh. Then there's the reticulated draft and this is only in

northern Kenya. Evidently these have the darker coat and it looks like a really narrow white lines all over their place. But with all these is kind of like what are you looking at? Are you looking at the spots or the lines in between? Sure? Yeah, it's like an optical illusion. And and the whole reason that the giraffes hide or coat looks like that is because it's it's camouflage. Like they're so big, there's really no way for them to hide anywhere, so they hide in plain sight by blending

in with the trees that they eat. That's right. Uh. There is also chuck. I don't know if you saw this or not, but in Kenya again at the h E Shock Beanie Heirolla conservancy, they found to all white giraffes head to toe white. I think I've seen those. Um yeah, I think they kind of became like an internet hit recently. Um. And they say that they're not

albino giraffes. There's like a lesser um condition called lucism, which really just kind of affects the skin and hair and coat, but not like say the eyes or anything like that. Um. But it's really cute. It's a mom and her baby, and you know they're they're being watched, probably more than other giraffes. Of the mom's kind of like you stay here behind the bushes. Okay, Um, I'm gonna handle the photographs. But it's just cute to watch them. Like,

I love watching giraffes at all times. At all times, I'm watching him. I'm watching some right now. Uh So, diratte, are they outside of our studio? Oh my gosh, how wonderful would that be? You can't see them. They're looking over your shoulder. I know I have my back to the door. Uh So. Giraffes live in what are called Savannah's through sub Saharan Africa, and the weather there is semi arid. They like um woodlands that are sort of open have smatterings of trees and bushes. Uh, and that's

really kind of the best habitat for giraffes. Right. And lastly, chuck um their eyes. Right, you said that their eyes are adorable, and let's largely because of them. They're wonderful eyelashes. But they also have um really large eyes and maybe among the better vision of any land animals. Um. They their peripheral vision is so good they can almost see behind them. Yeah, it's amazing. Yeah, and they can see in color. They can see a long long way in

front of them. And uh, like you said, those wide angle lens eyeballs and they're huge. Is really handy because giraffes. Um, basically, lions see giraffes and they think, all right, I know no one likes to see this kind of thing on television or on nature shows, but we have to eat too, and they make for good eating if you're a lion or let's say, a crocodile. And that's that's aside from humans. That's basically it. Hyenas prey on giraffe calves. But they

don't have that many predators. Yeah, well, which is great because we need more giraffes. Yeah, and they don't They also don't have a lot of recourse against predators. They can't kick, as we'll see, but they they there's not a lot they can do besides run away. But even when they run, despite their lungs being so big, they don't oxygenate the their their bodies well enough that they

can run for very long distances. So they can run fast and short bursts, but it can't being camouflaged and being so huge and high off the ground that their predators can actually reach them easily. That's that's really how they survive. Do we take another break? Yeah, let's take it away, all right, We'll be right back. All right. So you're talking about giraffes running fast. I can run about thirty five um for our Canadian friends, and and

certainly for Mika, that's fifty six kilometers. And we don't often do those conversions anymore. Well, we don't usually have an episode requested by a cute little Canadian. That's correct, although you could make the argument that all Canadians are cute, sure right, nice at the very least. So, um, have you ever seen a giraffe run in person? I don't

know that I have. You know that thing when you start to get older, Chuck, where your brain has been around long enough that it can just make up memories and you don't know if you actually experienced it or if your brain is like, this is what that person just asked would look like. So just go ahead and say, yes, that's what I just did. I'm not sure if I have or not, but at the very least I've seen it on TV and can imagine it all right, so

I know we did it. We did an episode on zoos and whether or not zoos are good or bad, and I sort of still haven't completely made up my mind on zoos, but um, I know you have your

on record. But I went to the San Diego Zoo when we did a tour show there a couple of years ago, and they have a draft habitat um very nice one, and they had some girafts walking around doing cute stuff, and then one of them, out of nowhere, took off and started running, and it is It was the most graceful thing I've probably ever seen in nature that didn't involve wings and flying. It was unbelievable, Like you can look it up on YouTube. Giraffes running but

so like like banjo music wouldn't have been appropriate. No, no, no, no, it's just they just sort of glide, man, And they're so big, and their necks are going forward and backward, kind of like they're they're cranking it out with their neck. Uh, and then their legs. It just it almost seems like they're not touching the ground. It's not like a it's

a gallop, but it's hard to explain. Like when you see a horse gallop, you feel like they're grabbing that ground and it's very just strong looking, but a draft just sort of glides. It's for such a big animal, and that might have something to do with the the optics of it, but um, it's just something to see. Well. They also the way that they move their legs is kind of peculiar as well. I think when they're running it's front legs and then back legs and front legs

and then back legs, if I'm not mistaken. But then when they're moving along at a slower speed, um, they're moving like right side legs, left side legs, right side legs, left side really, so it's not like one at a time or uh, it's it's a bizarre way to to walk around. Interesting yet another amazing thing about your raft's all right? So, uh, one of our favorite things are groups of animals, names of groups of animals, like you know, a murder of crows and where they get these crazy names?

Uh in drafts. I never knew until today a group of drafts is called a tower. I didn't know that anything. So sureraffs, it's long them known there's social animals. They live in packs, but again they they live in towers. I'm sorry they since they weren't really studied out in the field, everything that they noticed about giraffe sociality was basically in zoos, and that's an artificial habitat, right, So

they didn't get to see the real giraffes. But now that they've really started to study them out in the field, like systematically and really scientifically, um, they're finding that giraffes are like even more social than than they thought. Yeah, and they're also sort of like, uh, sort of like

a liberal hippie commune. Um. A tower can have tend to twenty members, but it's not like a lot of uh packs or murders or gaggles where you have um like, well, the women and the children are here, and the men do this. It's sort of anything goes that can be mixed genders. Uh. They can be young and old. Members can come and go as they please. They don't necessarily

stick together life. It's just seems like it's sort of a loose arrangement where giraffes will be like, all right, well, I'm cool to hang out with you guys for a little while, right exactly, and they The other thing that struck me too was that giraffe towers don't have territories, which I don't. I can't think of any other mammals off the top of my head that don't protect their turf. So apparently, when giraffes do um fight, male giraffes do fight,

it's strictly over re access to the um. The ladies. Oh well, but that's it. It's not like, hey, get out of here, this is my acacia tree, right, you know. True. I just think it's neat. There's no territories. It's like go wherever you want, many very chill. Uh. This is one of the other big facts of the show for me. So giraffes, one of their evolutionary adaptations is because they are so vulnerable to attack because they eat like what sixteen twenty hours a day and they're just hanging out

eaten trying to all get along. Lines are nearby, so they don't sleep for hours at a time because they're so vulnerable to attack, so they sleep. They only sleep about five to thirty minutes a day in the twenty four hour period. And sometimes those are like all right, I'm gonna stand here and I'm gonna take a one minute nap standing up right, or maybe boy, I'm super tired,

I need to lay down for six minutes. And so just google a picture of giraffe sleeping on the ground and you will see a draft curled up with its long neck kind of craning back towards this rump with his little head on his butt like a swan. Yeah, it's just adorable. My momo, my dog. She takes naps like a giraffe with their head up or like a like a really old person, or like she's nod off and then like it lifts their head up. It's really

it's cute to see. Yeah, So you know, a draft basically has to stay awake to keep an eye out for predators. Um and they don't have a voice either. They're one of the quietest mammals in nature. Yeah, a lot of people think or thought for a very long time that dress just didn't make sounds because it's so rare to hear them make a sound. But again, further studies found that they do make sounds, they just very

infrequently do. And they also think that potentially giraffes communicate to one another over long distances at um sub sonic frequencies that that humans just can't hear, so they may be, you know, humming, And there's actually there's a recording of a giraffe humming to itself in the dark in a zoo. It's really sweet to hear. But if you think of a giraffe by itself in the dark in a zoo and it's humming, it makes you wonder why it's humming

like that. Yeah, I mean, if you're around a giraffe, what you might hear if you're lucky, it is like a snort or maybe a hiss or a grunt. Probably won't hear any roaring or mooing, although they can do that. But the idea I've got is that that they just don't care to talk to people much, you know. Yeah,

so um, one thing with the snort. In particular, if you do hear a giraffe snort, it means that it's spooked and it's it's saying, oh my gosh, basically as it's running away, but it's also alerting it's fellow giraffes as well. And apparently giraffes are easily spooked enough that they're kind of like an early warning signal for the other animals on the savannah that they've spotted a lion.

So they're easily spooked that they also can see really really well over very long distances, and because of that height advantage, they can see even further, so if a giraffe starts running, the other animals are like, I'm out too. Well yeah, and not only that, and this is so cool. I love it when animals work together like that. But it goes even deeper. Uh. If you look up tick bird on giraffe, just google that stuff. You're gonna see a giraffe hanging out with these little birds all over

its back and neck and their buddies. They have a symbiotic relationship. And what happens is the tick bird or it's called an ox pecker because they do this on other animals as well. But they basically sit on top of these animals and they eat bugs in the coat. Uh, they kind of pick their nits and they warn the giraffe like they might see a lion and make their noise. I don't know what it sounds like. All right, they'll do that, and then the giraffe in turn snorts and

takes off. So in a sense, the tick bird is sort of warning everyone on the savannah that the lion is coming around. Poor lions think it's such a bad rap. Yeah, yeah, but they got to eat, you know. It's just it's just one of those things. It's the circle of life. It is. Nobody likes seeing a lion chowing down on an antelope or running after a family of of antelopes. They like to see lions and alligators or crocodiles fight

each other. Yeah, because then it's a fair fight. Sure, you know I'm talking about Oh yeah, but we did talk about the giraffes fighting each other for the ladies. Uh. And they do this with uh those accones you know when you look, I guess you you know, might want to call them horns, but they're called acicones. The two and it's not always too, don't they have more than that sometimes so no, they'll have two accones. But then they get these calcium deposits to protect against the head butts,

and it looks like they have more horns. Like you're kind of showing off at that point. Yeah, you really went a little far with the horns, man. Um. So they as as the giraffe matures too, like they'll have that little kind of tufted hair patch of hair at the top and that starts to fade a little bit as that it's replaced by the calcium deposits. That the

neck gets strong and upright and everything. And apparently young giraffes become um, young male giraffes become young men like giraffes as they're growing up by emulating their the giraffes that they see in real life. Um, and they'll act like they're tough or whatever and go like, you know, pull pull the girl's hair or something like that. And then when they're the actual like adult male giraffes, the

bulls are what they called come around. The kids just suddenly just go back to being little kids like nothing nothing, I wasn't doing anything but they're almost practice at first by emulating their they're grown ups. Yeah, it's pretty neat. Um, Like you said that, the males are called bulls. The females are called cows uh, calfs or what they have when they make a little baby uh and when they mate, the cow has a gestation period about fourteen months and

then um. You can look up on YouTube and see a video of a calf being born, and it is something else to see because a six ft tall, hundred and fifty pound giraffe, which is tiny by their standards, will kind of be pooped out of the back of the mom giraffe while the mom's just standing there. It'll flump and fall on the ground like a little lump, which is all cute and sort of amazing looking, and then like a bunch of really other gross stuff comes outright.

That's that's what you need to be just aware of. If you watch this video, you can just stop it. There is what I would recommend, but there's a there's a lot of afterbirth. There's one thing you know when you're young giraffe is don't look up. Yeah, never look up. Yeah, And while you're on YouTube, go look at baby giraffe learning to stand and walk, because it's amazing. They do it really quickly, about an hour later. But um, as with any mammals first steps, it's it's one of the

most adorable things you can witness. It's a little shaky, little shaky, yeah, but instead of taking you know, months or you know however long it takes for for human babies to learn to walk, like an hour is all it takes. And one reason probably the reason why giraffes can walk that quickly after being born is because they are huge targets for predators out on the savannah. Yeah,

it's like super sad. Uh. Only about one and four infant giraffes survived that first year, Yeah, which is a I mean, that's a that's a big milestone in a giraffe's life because you made it to to your first year, and after that you're starting to grow to the to the point where I think by age three to six they're fully mature. So if you make it to your first year, you're you're gonna be able to survive probably longer and longer. Your chances of survival increase tremendously just

because of the size. The size you're getting to but making it to that first year is very tough. And it's at that first year also that they wean. They I think they nurse for like the first year and then start eating leaves after that. Yeah, and um, So for many years they thought that mama drafts might be a little cold hearted because a lot of times they would see the mama draft leave the calf behind for

this very vulnerable young calf for extended periods. But what they now think, thankfully, is that the mama giraffes are just they're not neglected at all. They're really social, uh, and they're going out to look for food and stuff, and the job of the baby calf is to just lay down sometimes for a whole day and be as quiet as possible until mama returns. And mama will return right. But that seems to me is um. That's probably one of the reasons why the mortality rate is so high

among giraffe calves is that they're tiny. Their mothers leave them and they just expected to lay there quietly on the savannah until they return a day later. Yeah, but they do like the other I mean, the the only other thing they could do is walk around with mom, which makes them more vulnerable. Yeah, I guess that's a good point, you know, so that mama based he says, you hide here, be quiet. I know you want to run and play and you might want to snort, but

there's bad things out there. They're hungry lions, and so I'll be back, trust me. Yep. So um, they like you said, they do come back. But because of that, they like I think you said. The scientists for a long time, but what's wrong with giraffe moms are the worst of the worst. Um. But they have found again through recent study that now giraffes actually seemed to demonstrate um grief, like prolonged grief, even um when they lose

a calf. And there was one um mother giraffe who lost a calf to a predator and stayed at that spot for four days and didn't eat anything and was actually consoled it appeared by two other female giraffes who were friends. So they they are not neglectful, cold hearted mother. They're not like Joan Crawford's of the Animal Kingdom. Now, I told Emily that fact this morning, and she literally like started crying so bad. All right, So we mentioned that they eat plants, um that is exclusively drafts or

herbivores MIKA. So that means they only eat plants. They don't eat meat, and what they really like to chow down on they eat seeds, They beat fruits and branches and things. But they really love our mimosa trees and especially Acacia trees. That is what their main meals consist of. Right, And again they kind of look like these things that

they're eating, at least in their camouflage pattern. And because their tongue is prehensile, meaning you can go grasp stuff, right, they they are able to kind of circumnavigate like the thorns that are part of Acacia trees and Mimosa trees um and just kind of pluck these great leaves without

getting um stuck by the thorns. And their lips are also prehensile too, so it's like on their face around their mouth, they have two hands that are just going to town sorting through through these trees and um in eating the leaves off of them. Yeah. I think that's why when you see a giraffe there, so they have so much personality because that mouth. Yeah, I think that's part of it. Also, those eyelashes are not hurting things

at all. It's very very expressive. Uh. So for their size, they eat hundreds of pounds of leaves a week, which you think, like, man, that's a lot of leaves. But for their sizes, they have a uh that's not a lot of food. They have a very efficient internal system. Um. Sometimes they can live on as little as fifteen pounds of foliage per day, which isn't a lot of food for an animal that can weigh up pounds, right, Yeah, it's like seven kilograms for our Canadian friends. That's for

the rest of the world except for Liberia. Uh. What's the deal with the cud? So they're ruminant's right, like a cow um And that means that they eat their their leaves or flowers or what over there eating and then uh, it passes through four different chambers of their stomach and then it comes all the way back up through their stomach, all the way back up their neck into their mouth. Basically, they throw up the leaves that have now been turned into cud, and then they chew

on that some more and then swallow it again. That makes them a ruminant and actually I believe it makes them um kosher as well. Really, yeah, I saw that somewhere. That does not mean that you should go eat giraffes though, Oh what's wrong with people? Uh? And then finally they're they're wonderful adaptation uh that I think is one of the best is um because they're out there in the

dry subster here in Africa. There's not a ton of water around, uh, and certainly a giraffe leaning down and drinking water could be very vulnerable, especially to a crocodile.

They can go weeks at a time without drinking, and they get most of their water and the moisture that they to survive from those plants that they're Yeah, it's pretty astounding amazing so um because they're doing all of this, uh, this eating of tree tops and all of that, not just the tree tops, but just about anywhere on the tree they'll they'll eat from it. They're actually doing a

lot of other things too, um. And usually herbivores, you know, they they play some pretty good role in in their ecosystem, but giraffe seem to be like really integral to their ecosystems as well, just because of their really long neck and they're reaching places that other animals can't reach, so they have um a big impact on the ecosystem as far as keeping it like healthy and and running smoothly basically. Yeah, it's kind of like bringing a wildlife management pruning system

in there, right. That's you know, fift eighteen feet tall. And while they're eating, they are distributing seeds all over the place pooping, yeah, pooping out those seeds so they can serve of his uh pollinators even Yeah, pretty amazing the little acacia tree seeds go. Thanks a lot for the ride, that's right. As far as their conservation status, uh, they're not endangered, which is good news. Yeah, but are they not? I mean, just think about this. I don't know.

Over the past fifteen years, they've declined by to um around eighty thousand from a hundred and forty thousand, which is a troubling number to me for sure. I just don't know exactly what it takes to become endangered. I don't either. But but most of that um, that loss of the girafts fifteen years, they lost maybe sixty thousand out of a hundred and forty thousand drafts are are gone now, mostly due to poachers or yeah boo maybe booze of all booze. Go to the poachers, um and

then their their ecosystem. Their habitat is being lost because trees are being cut down for everything from developments to um crop land boo again. And if they don't have their well we we kind of do need crop land. But yes, agreed, there's when it affects drafts like that boo um. But even beyond that, apparently the giraffe tail

is used for all sorts of stupid stuff. They frankly, you don't need to kill a giraffe for you can just if you really need the tail hair, just cut the tail off, you know, like, if you're gonna do that, at least don't kill the giraffe first, maybe sedated and surgically remove it or something. But cheez, yeah, I wouldn't even go that bar well, sure right, just don't don't

remove the tail. Yeah, you can make a fly whisk or a bracelet out of something else exactly, but that's that's what they use them for, bracelets and flyer whisks. And because of all this bad stuff, Uh, Mika, you will be glad to know that June one has been declared World Giraffe Day. Is the longest day the year and they have awarded that day to the tallest animal.

So now there are there's a lot of awareness going on and efforts underway and a lot more studying than has ever been done before to help preserve the future success of the giraffe. Yep, thankfully. Yeah. Oh and I also want to go on record, Yes, we realized that flies spread disease in Africa and that fly whisks are actually pretty valuable. Like Chuck said, you can make fly

whisks out of other stuff. And maybe it's incumbent upon uh, some of us here in the West to make sure that the people who need to fly west in Africa get the synthetic one so that the giraffes are left out of the loop. There, how about that? And I think that sounds great. So you got anything else right now? I have nothing else? All right, Well there's giraffe Mika. Thanks for the idea. Uh and since I said thanks, it's time for Chuck. Yes, that is correct. Administrative details

okay everyone, administrative details. If you were new to the show, it is a segment wherein we thank uh listeners for the really neat, wonderful things that they send us. That's one of the great things about doing what we do is people are kind hearted and loving and we'll send us uh, send us stuff. Agreed. So let's start Chuck all right first on the list, because we forgot him last time. Our old buddy Greg Storkin came to see us in Denver, Colorado, right I think so yeah, and

he sent us some whiskey. And Greg, Uh, you are one of our our long time listeners, and man, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for sticking with us and for the whiskey. Yes, and Chuck, there's another one that, um yeah, thank you Greg. There's another one we missed last time too, Lucas Uh and the rest of the crew from Penelope, which is a charming restaurant at Lexington and thirty in Manhattan. They sent us a wonderful care package of stuff from Penelope. So thank

you guys, finally, at long last for that. That's right, And speaking of whiskey, might as well go ahead and shout out our buddies from the Greatest Generation podcast, Adam Pranica and Ben Harrison. Uh. If you don't listen to that show, it's really good. If you're a Star Trek Next Generation fan, or even if you're not. That's the best thing going for you. Uh. And they sent us some what was it what house whiskey from Brooklyn? Yeah, it was good stuff. Oh did you already dive into that?

Oh it's it's long gone. Okay, let's see. How about Tim Lazaroff send us a bunch of Wegmans organic ketchup. Thanks a lot, Tim. He also he also griped on email that we hadn't thanked him. So Tim, hold your horses. Uh, Testy's old oddities. Uh. They sent us toddler gifts and dog gifts, which we always appreciate, little bat costumes and dolls for bat observation. Yes, it's very very cute. I put it in my daughter's room and she loved it. Yes, thank you for that. And got a costume right, Yes

she did. She looks adorable in it too. I need to post a picture of it. Tell totally. Um, but I'm afraid that somebody will kidnap her. Well, yeah, then don't do that, right, So uh, I have a correction. Also from last time, we thanked Matt drag Or for sending his homebrew beer, but he we hadn't tried it yet. Remember it turned out to be kalua. He made homemade kalua. What? Yeah, don't you remember? It's amazing. I don't remember that. I don't know if I had that. It was good. It's

in that green bottle that Jonathan Strickland's faces on. Uh. Sarah Lopez Big Banks, she sent from scandalous scarves. Uh sent scarves for our wives after we made fun of Infinity scarves on our live show. Right yeah, with somebody wearing an Infinity scarf right there, I was. It was uncomfortable. Um. Thanks a million to Christina who gave of us freestyle embroidered sampler portraits of us at the Chicago show. You remember, Yes, they're amazing. Uh, Shot Tower Gin. We we love our

gifts of spirits, so Shot Tower Gin. I cannot remember the person and I feel terrible about that, but big shout out to shot Tower Gin. Uh yeah, yeah, do write in and let us know so we can thank you a second time. Thanks to Robin and Mother Dirt for sending us all the great skincare stuff is much appreciated and well received. Thank to Ben And I could not read the spelling. It's either clerk or cloak. He sent us a very cool and solvable. Very key for

a maze. Stuff you should know maze. And uh, I've never tried to design a me, so it was pretty neat seeing that. Um, let's see. Cody Deet sent us a copy of his book Spheria. And also while I'm on John M. Hamilton's sent us a copy of his book book Hell called Ohio. He thought I would appreciate that. In particularly Argentina, Coy invited us to her wedding to Dustin Notedge, so we could not come, but we always appreciate wedding invites. Yes, um Daria from Happy Socks in Sweden.

I had no idea that Happy Socks was out of Sweden, but she sent us a bunch of happy socks appropriately enough, and and they're awesome. Yeah, you love your happy socks. Mr Jack Ramsey sent US's graphic novel called Skit City and this thing is awesome. Uh, look up skit City online s k I T City. Uh and it's really really great. Yep. And Brigitte for the cut out drawing of me with my lovecraft book. I love that. That was very cool. Yeah. Who else do we have here? Um?

Now I thought it would be Rebecca, but I swear it was an end, So I'm going with Renika more Shell sent us her young adult time travel novel The Mender M E N D E R. Check that out, and uh, you want to save the rest for the next episode. Yeah, we're gonna continue this with a part two. How about that? All right, let's do it. So in the meantime, if you want to get in touch with us, you can tweet to us at s Y s K podcast or Josh eam Clark, hang out with us on

Facebook at Charles W. Chuck Bryant, or Stuff you Should Know. Uh, you can send us an email the Stuff podcast at how stuff Works dot com and it's always hang out with us at our home on the web Stuff you Should Know dot com for more on this and thousands of other topics, because it how stuff Works dot Com