GIRAFFES
the cutiest animal ever. Jena Monahan
‘Mom this way I want to see the giraffes.” Little Suzzy dragged her mom past the lions and tigers. Finally out of breath they watched the giraffes eat sleep and play. Little Suzzy saw a cute baby giraffe. ”This is the best day ever” said little Suzzy. “Can we go to the library to find I want to find out more.”
FIRST STEPS
When a baby giraffe or calf is born the mother moves away from the herd looking for a quiet spot. When she gives birth it takes between one & two hours! When a giraffe gives birth it gives birth standing up. The calf drops seven feet on the ground. Don’t worry the calf is fine because the calf’s bones are still soft so it won’t get hurt. The mom starts licking the calf. She does this so she can clean the calf and learn her baby’s smell. Giraffes are one of the only animals born with horns. After twenty minutes after birth the calf can walk.
PROTECTION
Calf’s have three main predators. The lion, hyena and leopard. For protection a full grown giraffe can kill a lion with a power full kick. In South Africa there are many national parks. A national park is where people cannot kill animals. When a calf sees a predator it will hide behind its mother if the calf sees a predator and it is far away from its mother it can run pretty fast. A calf can faster than a full grown giraffe!
FOOD & WATER
Giraffes are way to tall to eat plants from the ground. So they eat leaves off of trees. Since calf cannot reach were the adult giraffes eat a calf will go find food somewhere else. Giraffes have a stomach with four chambers. In the first chamber a giraffe will chew its food then goes down chamber one. Later in the day the food will come back up and be chewed again. That is the last time it will be chewed. Then it will go down the digestive system. When the drink water they spread their front legs apart to reach the water. They can go a mouth without water.
ZOO LIFE
Many giraffes have been captured and sold to zoos. A few weeks after they got there a few died. After a while they figured out how to take care of them. Giraffes live up to 25 years in the wild and in zoos they live up to 28 years.
CONCLUSION
Little suzzy found out a lot about giraffes. She even made a report about giraffes for school. Little will forever love giraffes. The first thing she wrote on her Christmas list was Santa can I have a giraffe for Christmas. She didn’t get what she wanted but it will have to do.