Giraffe Trivia Quiz Questions and Answers
What is a giraffe?
A: The giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal.
It is the tallest living what?
A: Terrestrial animal.
Giraffes usually inhabit what type of areas?
A: Savannas, grasslands, and open woodlands.
What is a giraffe’s primary
food source?
A: Acacia leaves.
They browse at heights most other “what” cannot reach?
A: Herbivores
Giraffes are preyed on by what animals?
A: Lions.
Giraffe’s calves are also targeted by what?
A: Leopards, spotted hyenas, and wild dogs.
Adult giraffes do not have strong what?
A: Social bonds.
Males establish social hierarchies through "necking", which
are what?
A: Combat bouts where the neck is used as a weapon.
Dominant males gain mating access to females, which bear
what?
A: The sole responsibility for raising the young.
The front and back legs of a giraffe are about the same
what?
A: Length.
The foot of the giraffe reaches a diameter of what?
A: 12 in.
The hoof is 5.9 in high in males and how high in females?
A: 3.9 in.
A giraffe has only what two gaits?
A: Walking and galloping.
How is walking done?
A: By moving the legs on one side of the body at the same time, then doing the
same on the other side.
When galloping, the hind legs move around the front legs
before what?
A: The latter move forward, and the tail will curl up.
While galloping, the animal relies on the forward and
backward motions of its head and neck to what?
A: Maintain balance and counter momentum.
The giraffe can reach a sprint speed of up to how fast?
A: 37 mph.
A giraffe can sustain what speed for several kilometers?
A: 31 mph.
How does a giraffe rest?
A: By lying with its body on top of its folded legs.
To lie down, the animal kneels on its front legs and then
what?
A: Lowers the rest of its body.
With each step, the animal swings it's what?
A: Head.
In captivity, the giraffe sleeps intermittently around how
many hours per day, mostly at night?
A: 4.6 hours.
It usually sleeps lying down, however, standing sleeps have
been what?
A: Recorded, particularly in older individuals.
If the giraffe wants to bend down to drink, what does it
do?
A: It either spreads its front legs or bends its knees.
Giraffes would probably not be competent swimmers as their
long legs would be what?
A: Highly cumbersome in the water, although they could possibly float.
The giraffe has an extremely elongated neck, which can be
up to how long?
A: 6 ft 7 in.
The long neck results from a disproportionate lengthening
of the what?
A: Cervical vertebrae, not from the addition of more vertebrae.
Each cervical vertebra is over how long?
A: 11 in.
This elongation largely takes place after birth, as giraffe
mothers would what?
A: Have a difficult time giving birth to young with the same neck proportions as
adults.
The giraffe's neck vertebrae have what type of joints?
A: Ball and socket.
Giraffes can feed up to how high?
A: 15 ft.
The shape of the giraffe skeleton gives the giraffe a what?
A: A small lung volume relative to its mass.
Its long neck gives it a large amount of dead space, in
spite of its what?
A: Narrow windpipe.
A giraffe’s heart can weigh more than how much?
A: 25 pounds.
Its heart can also be up to how long?
A: 2 feet long.
The wall of the heart can be up to how thick?
A: 3.0 inches.
Giraffes have unusually high heart rates for their size,
at how many beats per minute?
A: 150.
The jugular veins contain several valves to prevent what?
A: Blood flowing back into the head while it is lowered.
The skin of the lower legs is thick and tight to prevent
what?
A: To prevent too much blood from pouring into them.
The giraffe's intestines measure up to how long?
A: 260 feet in length.
The liver of the giraffe is what?
A: Small and compact.
A gallbladder is generally present during fetal life, but
it may what?
A: Disappear before birth.
Giraffes browse on the twigs of trees, preferring trees of
what genera?
A: Acacia, Commiphora and Terminalia.
The twigs are important sources of what?
A: Calcium and protein.
Giraffes also feed on what?
A: Shrubs, grass and fruit.
A giraffe eats around how many pounds of foliage per day?
A: 75.
When stressed, giraffes may chew what?
A: The bark off branches.
During the wet season, food is abundant and giraffes are
more spread out, while during the dry season, they gather around what?
A: The remaining evergreen trees and bushes.
Why do mothers tend to feed in open areas?
A: Presumably to make it easier to detect predators.
As a ruminant, the giraffe first chews its food, then
swallows it for processing and then visibly what?
A: Passes the half-digested cud up the neck and back into the mouth to chew
again.
It is common for a giraffe to do what while feeding?
A: Salivate.
The giraffe requires less food than many other herbivores
because the foliage it eats has what?
A: More concentrated nutrients and it has a more efficient digestive system.
The animal's feces come in the form of what?
A: Small pellets.
When it has access to water, a giraffe drinks at intervals
no longer than what?
A: Three days.
Giraffes have a great effect on the trees that they feed
on, delaying the growth of what?
A: Young trees for some years.
When is feeding at its highest?
A: During the first and last hours of daytime.
Between these hours, giraffes mostly do what?
A: Stand and ruminate.
Rumination is the dominant activity during what period,
when it is mostly done lying down?
A: the night.
With giraffes, only dominant males are generally able to
what?
A: Mate.