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Have you ever seen a sleeping giraffe? Your answer is probably no, but you would be amazed to learn that your resting habits are very different from those of other animals.
To clarify this mystery, PeritoAnimal brings you this article. Find out everything about the sleeping habits of these animals, find out how giraffes sleep and how much time they spend resting. Want to know more about the subject? So don't miss this article!
Giraffe Characteristics
The giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) is a quadruped mammal that is characterized by its enormous size, being considered the tallest animal in the world. Below, we'll tell you some of the characteristics of the most amazing giraffes:
- Habitat: is native to the African continent, where it lives in areas with an abundance of pastures and warm plains. It is herbivorous and feeds on the leaves that it pulls from the tops of trees.
- Weight and height: in terms of appearance, males are taller and heavier than females: they measure 6 meters and weigh 1,900 kilos, while females reach between 2.5 and 3 meters in height and weigh 1,200 kilos.
- coat: The fur of the giraffes is mottled and has shades of yellow and brown. The color varies depending on your health status. Its tongue is black and can measure up to 50 cm. Thanks to this, giraffes can easily reach the leaves and even clean their ears!
- reproduction: as for their reproduction, the gestation period is extended over 15 months. After this period, they give birth to a single offspring, which weighs 60 kilos. Baby giraffes have the ability to run a few hours after birth.
- Behavior: Giraffes are very sociable animals and travel in groups of several individuals to protect themselves from predators.
- predators: your main enemies are lions, leopards, hyenas and crocodiles. However, they have a great ability to kick their predators, so they are very cautious when attacking them. The human being also poses a risk to these huge mammals, as they are victims of poaching for fur, meat and tail.
If you want to know more about this fantastic animal, you might be interested in this other article by PeritoAnimal about fun facts about giraffes.
Types of Giraffes
There are several subspecies of giraffes. Physically, they are very similar to each other; in addition, they are all native to the African continent. THE Giraffa camelopardalis is the only existing species, and from it derive the following giraffe subspecies:
- Rothschild Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi)
- Giraffe del Kilimanjaro (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi)
- Somali Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata)
- Giraffe of Kordofan (Giraffa camelopardalis antiquorum)
- Giraffe from Angola (Giraffa camelopardalis angolensis)
- Nigerian Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis peralta)
- Rhodesian Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis thornicrofti)
How much do giraffes sleep?
Before talking about how giraffes sleep, you need to know how much time they spend doing this. Like other animals, giraffes need rest to recover energy and develop a normal life. Not all animals share the same sleep habits, some are very sleepy while others sleep very little.
the giraffes are among the animals that sleep less, not only for the short time they spend doing this, but also for their inability to achieve sound sleep. In total, they rest only 2 hours a day, but they don't sleep continuously: they distribute these 2 hours in 10-minute intervals throughout each day.
How do giraffes sleep?
We've already talked to you about the characteristics of giraffes, the species that exist and their sleeping habits, but how do giraffes sleep? In addition to just taking 10-minute naps, the giraffes sleep standing, as they are able to act quickly if they find themselves in danger. Lying down means increasing the chances of being the victim of an attack, reducing the chances of striking or kicking the predator.
Despite this, the giraffes can lie down on the floor when they are very tired. When they do, they rest their heads on their back to make themselves more comfortable.
This way of sleeping without lying down it's not exclusive to giraffes. Other species with the same predation risk share this habit, such as donkeys, cows, sheep and horses. Unlike these animals, in this other post we talk about 12 animals that don't sleep.
If you want to read more articles similar to How do giraffes sleep?, we recommend that you enter our Curiosities section of the animal world.