| Female giraffes, Giraffa camelopardalis, give birth in one of several specific “calving areas” in their home ranges, returning to these grounds to bear subsequent calves even if the larger home range has drifted geographically. Here, a young giraffe nurses from its mother. Strong and well-developed at birth, calves nonetheless frequently fall to predators in their first year of life. After weaning, females stay within their mothers’ territories, while males leave the range in all-male groups. Once a dominance hierarchy has been established among them, they wander alone in their own small ranges in search of females in heat. The sex of a grazing giraffe can be determined at a great distance with considerable accuracy. Almost invariably, males feed with their necks and often their tongues completely outstretched to reach the foliage of very tall trees. In contrast, females bend their heads over the tops of smaller trees. |
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