Circulatory System
With giraffes having such long necks, their heart has to work its very best to pump blood up the neck to the brain. One of the most powerful hearts of any mammal is the giraffes weighing around 24 pounds and measuring 2 feet long! This makes their blood pressure double the amount of most mammals and makes their heart have to work that much faster. When a giraffe bends down to drink water in the upper portion of their necks there is a complex pressure regulation system that maintains blood flow. In their brain there are elastic blood vessels that connect to one way valves in the neck to prevent the head from swelling when they bend over. If these things did not exist a giraffe would not be able to survive.
In their legs the vessels are under great pressure, so much that any other animal would not be able to handle it. Fortunately, giraffes have a layer of tight skin on their legs to maintain pressure and keep the vessels from bursting. Their thick skin and inner fascia also prevents blood pooling and excessive
bleeding if the giraffe were to ever get cut. NASA scientists are studying this adaptation of the giraffe and looking into creating a similar material for gravity-suits.
With giraffes having such long necks, their heart has to work its very best to pump blood up the neck to the brain. One of the most powerful hearts of any mammal is the giraffes weighing around 24 pounds and measuring 2 feet long! This makes their blood pressure double the amount of most mammals and makes their heart have to work that much faster. When a giraffe bends down to drink water in the upper portion of their necks there is a complex pressure regulation system that maintains blood flow. In their brain there are elastic blood vessels that connect to one way valves in the neck to prevent the head from swelling when they bend over. If these things did not exist a giraffe would not be able to survive.
In their legs the vessels are under great pressure, so much that any other animal would not be able to handle it. Fortunately, giraffes have a layer of tight skin on their legs to maintain pressure and keep the vessels from bursting. Their thick skin and inner fascia also prevents blood pooling and excessive
bleeding if the giraffe were to ever get cut. NASA scientists are studying this adaptation of the giraffe and looking into creating a similar material for gravity-suits.