Giraffe Research

Giraffe Research

Through giraffe research we have been able to learn quite a bit but there are still tons of unanswered questions. They date all the way back to about 50 million years ago. There is evidence to suggest that these animals did exist back then. However, they have been able to evolve into the creatures that we know them as today. There is still plenty of debate about how that happened as well as when it happened.

Today giraffes only live in the wild around Africa. Research shows them to be very calm and peaceful animals out there. They live in a variety of locations as long a they have enough food and some water. They also need open areas so that they don’t run into things due to their height. They prefer to be in the hotter climates but they do adapt in captivity well to colder environments as long as their basic needs are met.

While giraffes are social to a point, they live in very loosely defined herds. The females are more dependent upon each other than the males in order to protect their young. It is also known that they will mate at any time of the year. However, in the wild this usually occurs during the rainy season when they have lots of food to select from.

Some people believe that the giraffe is a migrator but that isn’t true. They do have a huge home range though that can span 50 miles. That way they have plenty of areas to get food from without destroying any given area. They will come back to feed in the same areas again down the road. They have a very good sense of where food sources are and when they will be available.

Giraffes don’t seem to mind if researchers are around them and they aren’t a threat so some very good pictures and observations of them can be made without any problems. However, it is often hard to figure out what these animals are thinking. There is a debate about how intelligent they are. While you can’t train them to do tricks or other things they seem to have a good sense of information that goes well beyond instinctiveness. However, some argue that these are animals that don’t know much except how to eat and how to survive.

More research will have to be done in order to prove or disprove one of those theories. For the most part though there isn’t really enough funding or even interest in giraffes to get such research done on a regular basis. There are simply too many other animals out there that people want to learn much more about.

One particular element of giraffe research that needs a great deal more of information is their communication. They don’t have too many vocalized sounds but what they do have in place seems to have quite an array of meanings. While researchers have recognized the meanings behind many of them, there is still plenty that has to be further evaluated. This definitely indicates a higher level of intelligence that most people don’t give them credit for.

One study in Africa brought to light some interesting information about giraffes. From time to time large numbers of them will die off and that is a concern. It is believed that there is a type of virus that can be found in the water and that when they drink it they can become extremely ill and die. Since giraffes consume huge amounts of water at once they are more susceptible to such a virus than other animals sharing the same watering hole.