Giraffes' long necks useful for reaching food, spotting danger

"Why do giraffes have long necks?," asked Ashley Mosquera, 8, a third-grader at W.C. Petty Elementary School in Antioch.

Almost no part of the giraffe is small. Standing about 15 to 18 feet tall, nearly half of a giraffe's body is its neck. They have long legs and very large hooves that can pack a wallop if a predator comes too close to a baby. Even their tails are long, topped by a yard-long tuft of hair used to swat insects.

Jen Muller, lead keeper at Brookfield Zoo's Habitat Africa! The Savannah, said a giraffe's long neck gives it an advantage when food is scarce. "It's an evolutionary advantage," Muller said.

Giraffes live in the African woodlands. Filling that huge body is a big job. They spend almost 12 hours a day chomping the top leaves of the acacia tree and the commiphora myrrha, the tree that produces a bitter sap called myrrh. Their long necks bring them eye-to-eye with the canopy of the forest, the very tops of the trees. Since giraffes only eat the tree tops, small animals have choice selection of nutrients from the ground-level grass and brush, Muller said.

Not only does the long neck give giraffes top priority with food selection, but because their heads are so high up, they can see danger a long way off. If predators come into view -- lions, hyenas, leopards and wild dogs -- the giraffe herd gallops away. "Other animals notice. If giraffes run, then they should run, too," Muller said.

Giraffes have such good vision, they can spot other giraffe herds at up to two miles away. "They are large, but quite graceful," Muller said.

You can quickly identify the difference between male and female giraffes by watching them eat. The male stretches its whole body when eating -- extending its long neck and head. The female stands tall, but slightly lowers her head when she wants to grab a bite.

You'd think that such a long neck would mean that a giraffe would have a whole stack of skeletal parts. "They have the same number of vertebrae as humans -- seven -- but they are much larger," Muller said. Giraffes give their long necks a rest when they sleep. "They will lay down and tuck their legs, head and neck underneath and sleep for a few hours at a time," she said.

It takes more than a year for a baby giraffe, called a calf, to be born -- up to 464 days. Calves nurse for about a year. "Born at 6 feet tall, most of their height is achieved in the first year," Muller said.

Brookfield Zoo's Habitat Africa! The Savannah is home to four female giraffes -- Arnieta, Jisiri, Mithra and Franny.