Tag giraffe

Dinosaur Series: Giraffatitan

MaNi Leave a comment

The Giraffatitan (Giraffatitan brancai) is a large, four-legged sauropod dinosaur in the Brachiosauridae family. Its name means titanic giraffe. It was found in the country that is now Tanzania in Africa.

It lived about 150 million years ago in the Late Jurassic period.

The Giraffatitan walked on four legs, with its front legs longer than its hind (back) legs. The first toe on its front feet, and the first three toes on its hind feet, were clawed. It had a long neck, like a giraffe’s neck. Its tail was also long. It had spatulate, or chisel-shaped, teeth.  

It was a herbivore, because it ate plants.

Continue reading “Dinosaur Series: Giraffatitan” →

Why was the Okapi called the African Unicorn?

MaNi Leave a comment

Why was the Okapi called the African Unicorn? 

The Okapi (Okapia johnstoni) is an African ungulate (hoofed) mammal in the Giraffidae family, related to the giraffe. It has chocolate to reddish-brown fur. Its legs have white horizontal stripes with white ankles. Its face, throat, and chest are greyish white. It has a long neck and large flexible ears.

The male has two short ossicones (bony structures) on its forehead, covered in hair. They are not horns. 

Continue reading “Why was the Okapi called the African Unicorn?” →

Okapi

MaNi Leave a comment

The Okapi (Okapia johnstoni) is also called the Forest Giraffe, the Congolese Giraffe or the Zebra Giraffe. It is related to the giraffe; it is a giraffid. It is a ruminant ungulate mammal – a plant eating hoofed animal. It is an artiodactyl.

The Okapi has chocolate to reddish brown fur. Its legs have white horizontal stripes with white ankles. Its face, throat, and chest are greyish white. It has a long neck and large flexible ears. Males have short ossicones (like giraffes) that are bony structures covered in hair – they are not horns. It has a long tongue.

Continue reading “Okapi” →

What’s the difference between giraffe manure and zebra manure?

MaNi Leave a comment

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.

Continue reading “What’s the difference between giraffe manure and zebra manure?” →

CREATURE FEATURE: Gerenuk

MaNi Leave a comment

The Gerenuk (Litocranius walleri) is an African long-necked gazelle from the antelope family, which is also called Waller’s Gazelle.

Gerenuk means giraffe-necked in Somali. Its neck is not as long as a giraffe’s neck but it is longer than a gazelle’s neck. Its neck is about 60-70 centimetres (23-28 inches) long. It also has very thin legs.

The Gerenuk is 80-105 centimetres (31-41 inches) tall with glossy two-tone fur in buff and reddish colours. Its tail, throat, chin, eye rings, and lips are white. Its head is long and narrow with very large ears.

Continue reading “CREATURE FEATURE: Gerenuk” →

Kenyan Giraffes: What’s the difference between a Masai, a Reticulated and a Rothschild’s Giraffe?

Leave a comment

What is the difference between Kenyan giraffes – a Masai, a Reticulated, and a Rothschild’s Giraffe?

A Masai Giraffe has irregular patterns.

A Reticulated Giraffe has regular patterns with a bright chestnut colour and white spaces.

A Rothschild’s Giraffe has brown patterns with cream spaces.

 

Photographer: Martina Nicolls

Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM

Continue reading “Kenyan Giraffes: What’s the difference between a Masai, a Reticulated and a Rothschild’s Giraffe?” →

Reticulated Giraffe

MaNi Leave a comment

The Reticulated Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata) is an endangered species of giraffe found only in protected grassland reserves in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. It is also called the Somali Giraffe.

The Reticulated Giraffe has clearly defined chestnut-coloured polygon shapes on its body separated by narrow white lines. The patched shapes can go all the way to the hooves, or just to the knees. It looks like the Rothschild’s Giraffe, but the Reticulated Giraffe only has two ossicones (like horns) on its head, whereas the Rothschild’s Giraffe has five ossicones, with one in the middle of its forehead. Ossicone means bone cone.

Continue reading “Reticulated Giraffe” →

Rothschild’s Giraffe

MaNi Leave a comment

The Rothschild’s Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi) is an endangered species of giraffe found only in protected grassland reserves in Uganda and Kenya. It is also known as the Baringo Giraffe or the Ugandan Giraffe.

It is the tallest giraffe and reaches a height of up to 5.9 metres (19.3 feet). It is an ungulate mammal, which means that it is hoofed. It has a long neck of two metres (6.5 feet) with seven vertebrae (bones) and a short mane. It has long thin, but powerful, legs about two metres (6.5) long. They can kick other animals to death, and they can run up to 35 miles per hour.

They also have long tongues of about 45-51 centimetres (18-20 inches) and big eyes, the size of golf balls. Their tails have a tuft of hair at the end.

The Rothschild’s Giraffe has irregular shapes on cream fur that are paler than Masai Giraffes. They have no markings on their lower legs. Their lower legs are white. Males are usually darker than females.

Continue reading “Rothschild’s Giraffe” →

Masai Giraffe

MaNi Leave a comment

The Masai Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi) is an ungulate mammal in the Giraffidae family of giraffes. An ungulate is a hoofed mammal. It is related to the Okapi.

The Masai Giraffe has a long neck with seven vertebrae (bones) and a short mane (neck hair). It has distinctive, irregular, jagged, brown star-like or leaf-like shapes on its cream-coloured fur. The shapes occur all the way to its hooves. It has long, thin, but powerful legs. It has a long tongue and big eyes, which are the size of golf balls. Its tail has a tuft of hair at the end.

As it ages, the male often develops two calcium deposits, called ossicones, in its skull. An ossicone looks like mini horns. It is not a horn. It is a bony ossicone that is covered in fur.

Continue reading “Masai Giraffe” →