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Cubs of giraffes are some of the tallest cubs on the planet. But did you know that they can run ten hours after birth and moo like a cow? Let’s find out nine interesting facts about baby giraffes and take a look at pictures of these touching mammals.
# 9: Little Giraffes Use Their Butts As Pillows
Baby giraffes only sleep three or four hours a day, but you might be wondering if they sleep while standing or lying down? The answer is both. In the wild, most baby giraffes only sleep a few minutes at a time and stand up.
When they lie down to rest, giraffe calves reach their long necks around their bodies to rest their heads on their bottom to sleep. In other words, their bottoms are built-in pillows!
# 8: Little Giraffes Can Run 10 Hours After Birth
While it is true that giraffes find it difficult to walk when they are just born, this stage is short-lived. After about 30 minutes of practice, baby giraffe can walk with enough stability not to trip too much or fall over.
In fact, within 10 hours of birth, baby giraffes can run at full strength and keep up with the adults in their families.
# 7: giraffe calves can moo
If you’ve ever wondered what a baby giraffe sounds like, you might be surprised to know that their voices are more familiar than you think. That’s right: giraffe calves can moo like a cow. They usually speak with a voice only when they are concerned. As giraffes grow up, they learn new sounds that sound more like a whistle to the human ear, and end up communicating at such a low frequency that human ears cannot even hear it!
# 6: When giraffe babies are born, they fall six feet!
You probably already know that adult giraffes are very tall. In fact, they are so tall that they are the tallest animals in the world! When adult giraffes give birth, they do so while standing. This means that baby giraffes are faced with a fall six feet from their mother to the ground at birth. Miraculously, this fall rarely traumatizes babies, and instead, the fall tears their umbilical cord and frees them from the birth sac, allowing them to take their first breath.
# 5: Little Giraffes Grow Six Feet!
Giant Giraffes Cubs! When they are born, they are about six feet tall and weigh about 220 pounds! Although they can walk about 30 minutes after birth, it takes them several hours to stand up straight. They are born with their eyes open, and their tiny horns, called ossicons, stick to their head for several hours before revitalizing.
# 4: Giraffe Babies Get Their Dot Patterns From Their Mothers
Baby giraffes have adorable orange patches that help protect them from predators and make them unique to other giraffes in their families. Their spots can also help them maintain their body temperature and identify other giraffes in their family. But did you know that giraffe babies get their spots from their mothers?
Recent research shows that the spotting of a baby giraffe is similar to that of its mother. The bitmap inherited by a baby giraffe has a direct impact on its survival, as some spots provide better camouflage, temperature regulation and identification by older giraffes in their family. The dot pattern of giraffes does not change with age.
# 3: Little Giraffes Have Babysitters
When giraffes are about a month old, their mothers leave them in groups called calving pools, where the young are cared for by another group of adult giraffes. While they are in the calving pools, mother giraffes can travel further in search of food and water for their young. Every evening, the mother giraffe returns and retrieves her cub from the calf pool to care for.
# 2: giraffes doubled in size in their first year
Imagine that next year you will be twice as high as you are now! For giraffe calves, this is reality. They are born about six feet tall and grow to about 12 feet in height during their first year. Most of this height falls on their necks. Rapid growth allows giraffe calves to obtain food faster, which increases their chances of survival and allows them to travel faster on their own.
# 1: Giraffes leave their mothers when they are two!
While two may appear young to humans or giraffes, it is perfectly normal to abandon their mothers at the age of two. During this time, the giraffes leave their herd, called the tower, to take care of themselves. However, the bond between mother and baby giraffes is strong.
Even after baby giraffes leave their tower, they are known to return and travel with their mothers for days or even weeks.
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