Giraffe
The giraffe ( Giraffa camelopardalis ) is a Mammifère Ongulé Artiodactyle and Ruminant, originating in the Savane S African and widespread of the Chad until in South Africa. The word giraffe comes from the Arab zarâfa (ZRaFat, زرافة the charming one).
At the end of million years of evolution, the giraffe acquired a single anatomy allowing him brouter in particular the summit of the trees.
To the Greek , the giraffe passed for the girl of the Chameau and the leopard, from where the term of camelopardalis .
Wise Arabic Al-Qazwini known as of it: “Knowing that it would be nourished in the trees, Allah gave him forelimbs longer than the posterior ones”. It was described, for the first time in France, by Pierre Bellon (1517 - 1564)
In 1809, Lamarck thought that by lengthen the neck, it had transmitted this feature to its descent. In 1872, Darwin thought that his long neck was due to a selection related to the periods of famines, where one or two inches made the difference and made it possible to survive.
Characteristics
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It acts of the largest animal in height, being able, thanks to its neck all in length, to reach up to 5,50 m or even 5,80 Mr. Cependant this one does not comprise more vertebrae (7, of more or less 40cm each one) that of the other mammals (or that the man).
- Its weight is from 950 to 1100 kilograms for the females and can go up to 1500 kg for the males.
- Its life expectancy is about 25 years.
- Its peeling with dominant russet-red réticulé or is mottled of yellow.
- Its belly is white.
- the head carries two small horns covered with skin.
Subspecies
There are divergences between scientists on the subspecies. There are 9 generally accepted subspecies, with some variations of colors:- G.c reticulata ) - north-eastern of the Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia.
- G.c angolensis - Angola, Zambia.
- G.c antiquorum ) - Western and South-west of the Sudan.
- G.c tippelskirchi - Center and South of the Kenya, Tanzania.
- G.c camelopardalis - is Sudan, the North-East of the Democratic republic of Congo.
- G.c rothschildi - Uganda, Center-North of the Kenya.
- G.c giraffa - South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique.
- G.c thornicrofti - Niger, Cameroun.
Gallery
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