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Giraffe

Giraffa camelopardalis

Photo by Smith Zoo
Published on Project Noah
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-23.7684, 31.1506

Field Notes

Description:

Approximately 7 month old giraffe.

Habitat:

Grazing on some trees in the subtropical Kruger National Park.

Notes:

Most mammals where accompanied by a 7 to 5 month old baby! I was a great experience to see the babies coming into their own.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (3)

Hi Hema, they are horn like. Herewith a snippet from Wikipedia on the subject - most interesting! Both sexes have prominent horn-like structures called ossicones, which are formed from ossified cartilage, covered in skin and fused to the skull at the parietal bones. Being vascularized, the ossicones may have a role in thermoregulation, and are also used in combat between males. Appearance is a reliable guide to the sex or age of a giraffe: the ossicones of females and young are thin and display tufts of hair on top, whereas those of adult males end in knobs and tend to be bald on top

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