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Thornicroft's giraffes are tall with very long necks. [8] They have long, dark tongues and skin-colored horns. [9] Giraffes have a typical coat pattern, with regional differences among subspecies. The pattern consists of large, irregular shaped brown to black patches separated by white to yellow bands. [9]
The world has so many little secrets we might have no idea about. Like the fact that giraffes' 50 cm-long tongues are black. Well, they're not black exactly, more accurately, they are dark purple ...
The long tongue of the okapi. Okapis are herbivores, feeding on tree leaves and buds, branches, grasses, ferns, fruits, and fungi. [35] They are unique in the Ituri Forest as they are the only known mammal that feeds solely on understory vegetation, where they use their 18-inch-long (46 cm) tongues to selectively browse for suitable plants.
The tongue's darker pigment is believed to function as a natural sunscreen and prevent sunburn. On top of the head are two bony structures called ossicones which are covered by thick skin and have dark hair on the tips. These can be used during fights to club its opponent. Bulls usually have an extra ossicone present between the eyes. [11]
To understand why giraffes fight we need to take a look at their social hierarchy. Giraffes live in stable family groups with older females helping the mothers to care for the young. A group of ...
Classed within the infraorder Pecora, the closest extant relative of giraffes is the elusive okapi (Okapia johnstoni) of Central Africa, with both species possessing a long, black, prehensile tongue for browsing foliage as well as ossicones, the bony, horn-like skull growths on the animal’s forehead (often tipped with tufts of fur). A common ...
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The coat patterns of modern giraffes may also have coincided with these habitat changes. Asian giraffes are hypothesised to have had more okapi-like colourations. [6] The giraffe genome is around 2.9 billion base pairs in length, compared to the 3.3 billion base pairs of the okapi. Of the proteins in giraffe and okapi genes, 19.4% are identical.