What’s the difference between giraffe manure and zebra manure? Manure is also known as dung, poop, poo, or droppings.

Giraffes and zebras are both ungulate mammals.

Giraffes and zebras are both herbivores, because they both eat vegetation.

Specifically, giraffes are ruminant browsers, eating bushes, leaves, and branches of trees, whereas zebras are cecal grazers, eating mainly grass.

Giraffes have manure similar in texture to sheep manure, whereas zebra manure is similar in texture to horse manure.

Giraffe manure (left) and Zebra manure (right)

A giraffe has small, round brown balls of manure. Its ball manure has a dent on one side. The dent is caused by the long fall from the giraffe to the ground.

Giraffe manure

Zebra manure is darker than giraffe manure. Zebra manure looks blacker in colour. Zebra manure is quite large, and is between a spherical (round ball) shape and a square shape.

Zebra manure

Giraffes have a ruminant digestive system, whereas zebras have a cecal digestive system. Bushes and leaves pass through a giraffe’s digestive system at a slower rate than grasses pass through a zebra’s digestive system. However, a giraffe’s digestive system is more efficient than a zebra’s digestive system.

In summary, a giraffe’s digestive system is slow but efficient, whereas a zebra’s digestive system is fast but inefficient. So giraffes spend less time eating leaves and zebras spend more time eating grass.

Photographer: Martina Nicolls

Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM