Reproductive System
Female giraffes give birth to a calf around 15 months after mating. The mother gives birth standing up, so the calf usually drops 5 feet to the ground.
Life Stages
Guys always go bald faster than women!
The very different horns (technically called ossicones) That giraffe's have usually differentiate. Female ossicones are usually covered in hair, while the male ossicones are bald on top. Why males horns on top are bald is due to a behavior they do called necking. This is done to establish dominance and to get the female they choose. Males will swing their necks and use their horns to hit another male to show the other male that he is more prominent. With increasing impact, the hairs on males’ ossicones wear down and have a balding spot. Very uncommon for female to ever fight.
Female giraffes give birth to a calf around 15 months after mating. The mother gives birth standing up, so the calf usually drops 5 feet to the ground.
Life Stages
- Litter Count: 1, two (not common)
- Birth Weight: 50-100 kg (110 - 220 lbs)
- Height: 1.7 - 2 m (5.6 - 6.6 ft)
- Horns are prominent at birth; formed by small bumps of cartilage, unattached to skull, covered with thin layer of skin and hair.
- Newborns can stand in about 5 - 20 minutes, and can run with their mother in about an hour.
Infant (Born to 1 year old)- Predator defense: At this age, being to young to defend themsleves, calves stays still, lying on the ground, hiding near or under a bush or broken tree. Mothers will often leave the calf alone for several hours at a time as she travels to water.
- Creches: After a month, calves could begin
group together in creches. Creches are when the calves gather together in a certain area for care and protection from females. Many of the mothers will leave for long
periods to browse, and will return to feed their young before dark, and
stay through the night. Sometimes a few females stay behind to care for
the young, but they can be left alone for several hours.
- 3 - 4 months of age: Calves begin browsing and ruminating.
- 4 - 6 months, calves start to feed with females.
- Weaning age varies quite a bit (6 - 17 months), but most commonly begins at 9-12 months.
- Independent from mother at 12 - 18 months of age, but sometimes could last s few months longer.
- Males tend to wander farther than females while females stay close to "home" where the family herd grew up in.
Horn development- Horns fully developed at age 4 - 4.5 in males and age 7 in females.
- Cartilage bumps grow and begin to ossify (become bony) starting at the tip, eventually merging with skull on the parietal bone.
- Forehead area becomes more and more dense. From the growth of the horns an additional
knob is formed in front of main horns. Present in both males and females, but the
knob on the male can grown into looking like a third horn.
- Males: Bone growth continues all over front of skull, forehead, over the eyes, and nose. Much more dense than that of
females for the sole purpose to protect its head more when fighting.
- Females are fully matured at 5 years old and males at 8 years old.
Average life span
- In the wild: max of 25 years, but 15-20 is more common.
- Captivity: Females live around 25% longer than males. The age range of the 8 oldest
giraffes held in captivity were all females- 32 - 40.5
years.
- Predation of adults is rare.
- Hunted by humans.
Guys always go bald faster than women!
The very different horns (technically called ossicones) That giraffe's have usually differentiate. Female ossicones are usually covered in hair, while the male ossicones are bald on top. Why males horns on top are bald is due to a behavior they do called necking. This is done to establish dominance and to get the female they choose. Males will swing their necks and use their horns to hit another male to show the other male that he is more prominent. With increasing impact, the hairs on males’ ossicones wear down and have a balding spot. Very uncommon for female to ever fight.