Animals are a wonderful creation of nature. Their forms, shapes, colors, and behavioral patterns add color and vividness to our world. Each animal species has its identification and characteristics. Among them, the Giraffes stand out. They are the tallest land animals, and there is one particular fact about them.
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All about Giraffes
These fantastic creatures mostly live in Africa. They are long-necked and hoofed. As mentioned, they are the tallest land animals. Because of their long necks and height, they easily browse foliage very high above the ground level. The giraffes are a ubiquitous site in East African Grasslands. These creatures grow to their full height within four years but gain weight until they are seven or eight. They have a tail about one meter long, a long neck, and a short black mane. Both the males and females have a pair of horns.
Fun facts about the Giraffes
There is so much information that we do not know about these silent creatures. Here are some of the most exciting details.
- There are four species of Giraffes. The Masai Giraffe, Southern Giraffe, Northern Giraffe, and the reticulated Giraffe are those four categories. They live in distinct areas of Africa.
- The spots of the giraffe are like human fingerprints. They are different and unique to each other.
- These animals make no sound; we call them the silent giants.
- Because they are tall, front legs are flexible enough to spread wide to make themselves short and reach shorter distances.
- Their hearts are strong, and their blood circulation is substantial.
- Their walk is enjoyable to see.
- The tongues of the giraffes are specially used to grab the young leaves from the tree tops.
- The giraffes sleep standing up.
- The adults drop their kids.
- Although they are innocent, their kicks are powerful.
- Unlike the other animals, they fight by the neck, which is called necking.
- Though they eat so much leaves throughout the day, they do not drink much.
- Their horns are not real horns.
Learn more about Giraffes here.
Do Giraffes Hum at night?
Recent research has found this fun fact about giraffes. That is, they hum, but only at night. Unlike the other species, the Giraffes are a silent set of animals. So, they only use grunts to communicate with others. This is a new fact that the zoologists are working on. They have even caught the sound at night on tape. This sounds interesting to look into. According to the data, the giraffe’s vocals must include acoustic descriptions, making it difficult to establish the sounds.
The researchers think the sound could be very similar to the sound of elephants. To be more accurate, they have attempted to record the sounds of individual giraffes during the day and night. It has been noted that the sounds vary from day to night. The night sounds have a more humming tone than the day recordings. Many details are shared in this research paper.
The researchers recorded more details about the humming sound. If you look closely at the date, you can see the variations. The attached research paper has a complete description with graphs and pictures of the broadband spectrograms showing sound variations.
Why do the Giraffes hum?
Why do you think the giraffes hum at night? It could be mainly about communicating with each other. Many say that they are not sound-makers like the different animals. It is suspected that it is because of their long neck. But after spending many hours recording at night, the scientists and the team have discovered that it is a humming sound with a rich harmonic sound structure that only occurs at night. This sound is a way to keep each other connected, though they cannot see each other closely at night. Read more.
Conclusion
It is also noted that this sound is only heard in the night. No one is sure about the reason why. The sounds are not as loud as a roar or any other animal that outstands the different sounds of nature. However, some research data have concluded that the humming sounds the giraffes make at night are more of an indication to let the others in the group know their presence. It is a mode of communication.
Also, some say the giraffes hum dreamily by looking at the recorded sounds. It is a similar incident to dogs barking in sleep. There are several views to this new finding, and zoologists and scientists are doing more research. Let’s look forward to more exciting findings about the humming of Giraffes.