Giraffe Habitat

Giraffe Habitat and Distribution

Giraffes are natives of Africa where they run wild in the tall grasses of the open planes. However, they will also survive in the woodlands as well as along the savannahs. Giraffes will move to where they need to in order to find food. Many people assume that since giraffes feed on leaves high in trees that they would want to live where the forests are thick and plentiful. However, this wouldn’t be good for them due to their height. They need lots of room to maneuver.

The home range for a giraffe is close to 50 square miles. These areas of habitat for the giraffes often overlap and they will get along just fine with that. They may fight over food source though during times when it isn’t as plentiful. What is a common problem though is that their natural habitat continues to be shrinking due to humans making roads and other types of clearings out there. This means that the home range for them gets smaller and smaller. As a result they are back to the same feeding areas before it has really had a chance for adequate food sources to grow again.

There are many refugees around Africa where the giraffes are well protected from humans and their hunting or destruction. These areas allow them to freely roam and to not worry about such destruction. In order to help pay for these areas though they often host wildlife safaris. They allow guided tours along the rugged terrain in jeeps so that they don’t have to have roads built along them. The giraffes are used to seeing people in such a setting and they aren’t afraid. Many researchers go to such a habitat to do their observations of these animals.

Giraffes seem to thrive in areas where it is very hot. They also enjoy wide open spaces that allow them to see for a great distance. While giraffes usually do graze around for food at a leisurely pace they can move quickly if they need to. The habitat for a giraffe needs to be one that allows them to move around freely and when humans put limits on those areas it is a big concern for them.

There are some threats to the survival of the giraffe in such habitats out there. One of them is referred to as rinderpest and it is responsible for killing large numbers of giraffes when there is an outbreak. This is a type of viral infection that can’t be cured and it only happens in the wild. It is believed that the virus gets into the water that the giraffes consume. I has been known to wipe out entire herds of them due to the severity of it. There are many other types of animals out there sharing the water supplies that also are vulnerable to it as well.

Giraffes do seem to adapt quite well to a variety of environments as long as their basic needs are met. For most of us though the only place we will see a giraffe is at the local zoo. This tends to give the impression that they are in danger in the wild of being extinct but most information out there seems to indicate that they are doing just fine. However, the zoos get lots of people coming to see the giraffes and that is one of the reasons why they are included.

You will find that many efforts are made for them in captivity when it comes to the giraffe habitat. That way they can have an environment that is similar to what they experienced in the wild. Usually though giraffes in zoos are the offspring of others and not taken from the wild.