Giraffes are endemic to Africa. It has a long neck. Look up. The tallest male giraffe can reach a height of 6 meters, so it is the tallest animal on land.
Giraffes usually have a diagonal, which will not fall off for life. The mottled mesh on the skin is a natural protective color. Giraffes like to live in groups, usually more than ten live together, sometimes as many as dozens in a large group. Giraffes are timid and kind animals. Whenever they meet natural enemies, they run away immediately. It can run at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour. When it can't run away, its huge hoof like a hammer is a powerful weapon.
In addition to a pair of big eyes, giraffes are also natural "watchmen" to monitor the enemy. They will keep turning their ears to find the sound source until they conclude that they are safe. Giraffes like to eat the leaves of big trees and the tender leaves of some hydrous plants. Its tongue can reach more than 50 cm when stretched, and it is extremely dexterous and convenient to eat leaves.
Giraffes are pregnant for more than 14 months, and each fetus gives birth to 1 animal. The baby born is 1.8 meters tall, and can stand up in 20 minutes after birth, and can fly as fast in a few days. The baby matures after 4 years old and has a life span of 30 years.
Giraffes live in arid and open savanna areas and live in groups. Their food is leaves and branches of all kinds of tall trees. Giraffes have keen hearing and vision. The eyes can see what is behind them, but they are as silent as dumb and rarely make a sound. Male giraffes are aggressive. They held hands and hugged each other for a long time. Just like two people fighting, neither of them will leave first.
Giraffes are representative animals in Africa and usually live in small groups in sub-Saharan tropical grasslands or semi-desert areas with few trees. Taxonomically, giraffes belong to the genus Artiodactyla (Giraffe).
Giraffe is the most unique artiodactyl. Its teeth are primitive and low-crowned, so it can't take grass as its staple food, but leaves as its staple food. Its tongue is very long and can be used for feeding. It has short horns on its head and is covered with hair. There are only two kinds of giraffes in Africa, but they were widely distributed in prehistoric times. They can be divided into ancient partridge subfamily, partridge subfamily and western partridge subfamily Gulinae is the primitive type of giraffe, with small body, short limbs and neck, living in forests, widely distributed in prehistoric times, and can also be seen in China. Another representative of Guriaco, Okapia Johnstoni, is distributed in the tropical rain forest in eastern Congo, Africa, and maintains many primitive features. Giraffe is a giraffe that lives in the savanna. Because the trees in savanna are mostly umbrella-shaped and the leaves are concentrated in the upper layer, giraffes have evolved long necks and limbs and can eat leaves. There is only one species of giraffe giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) in the subfamily Giraffe, which is widely distributed in the savanna of Africa. It is the tallest living animal and one of the most familiar African animals. Xiwasuinae is a specialized giraffe, with a stout body and large flat horns. Now it's all extinct.
Giraffes commonly seen in zoos belong to a subspecies distributed in East Africa and are called reticulated giraffes. In addition, there are eleven different subspecies with different habitats, developed horns and stripes. However, some scholars have pointed out that Congolese giraffes and Sudanese giraffes, Zambian giraffes and Angolan giraffes, Kruger giraffes and South African giraffes cannot be distinguished in detail.
When will the giraffe come to China?
In July 1985, 1 1, the former Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications issued a set of 4 commemorative stamps of J. 1 13 "The 580th Anniversary of Zheng He's Sailing to the West". The last "feat in the history of navigation" depicts the scene of Zheng He and his party in Africa, in which two giraffes appeared, which is the first time on China stamps. On June 28th this year, the State Post Bureau and the postal departments of Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions jointly issued a set of three commemorative stamps and sheetlets with different designs and contents. The second commemorative stamp of Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Region shows Zheng He's fleet's trip to Africa with giraffes (Figure 2).
Now giraffe, the tallest animal in the world, is a representative wild animal in Africa. Taxonomically, giraffes belong to the family Giraffe of Artiodactyla, belonging to mammals. China has not produced giraffes since ancient times, but in 1979, there were many "Kirin" painted on the stone reliefs of the Eastern Han Dynasty discovered by Jiawang in Xuzhou, and at least three of them had the typical characteristics of African giraffes. 600 years ago, Zheng He went to the Western Ocean in the Ming Dynasty, with a history as far away as Africa. It is said that the reason for running so far is to look for the auspicious animal "Kirin" in China. In the ancient legend of China, unicorns appeared in the world, which bodes well for the country's prosperity and peace. However, no one has seen the deer, oxtail and unicorn described in this ancient book, so some people have always doubted whether it really exists. In the 12th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 14 14), on September 20th, Zheng He brought a giraffe back to Min Yang as a tribute to the new king Saifuddin of Bangra (now Bangladesh), which made the Ming Dynasty stunned the whole country. The scene at that time was like Shen Du's ode, which described "the people gathered to watch and were overjoyed". A poem once praised: "Southwest China, boundless sea, true unicorn, five feet high, elk hooves, meat horns, literary talent, red clouds and purple fog, and impractical toes, you must choose to swim." Because the giraffe's appearance and habits are too consistent with the Kirin described in China's ancient books, after further understanding, it is found that the giraffe's origin is in East Africa, and the local Somali language calls it "G ir i", which is very similar in pronunciation to Kirin, which makes China people believe that the giraffe is Kirin. So Zheng He's fleet sailed to West Asia for the fourth time, bypassed the Arabian Peninsula, made its maiden voyage to East Africa, and arrived at the giraffe's hometown in the 13th year of Yongle. In the same year, Zheng He's fleet returned to China, and ambassadors from various countries gathered together, including Marin State in East Africa (located in Malindi; One said he was an emissary of Kilwa Kisiwani in Tanzania. He gave a giraffe from his own country to Emperor Yongle. In the 14th year of Yongle (A.D. 14 16), Marin paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty for the second time. Ma Huan's book Ying Ya Sheng Lan describes the beast as follows: "Kirin, its first two feet are more than nine feet high, its last two feet are about six feet high, its head is ten feet, its neck is six feet long, and its toes are high and its back is low, so no one can ride it. There are two horns on the head, in the ears. Oxtail deer has three hooves and a nameplate. Eat millet, beans and cakes. " It is not difficult to see that the so-called "Kirin" is also a giraffe. According to Ming History, in the third year of orthodoxy (A.D. 1438), Bongla paid tribute to "Kirin". Why can Bangla in South Asia, which does not produce giraffes, pay tribute repeatedly? Historians believe that this is related to the international situation and maritime trade at that time. Before the great geographical discovery, Arabs controlled the maritime trade between East and West. Their dhows not only transport general goods, but also transport horses from Arabia and Somalia to India, and even transport elephants from Myanmar and Sri Lanka to India. Since dhows can carry horses and elephants, it is certainly no problem for Arabs to transport giraffes from East Africa, which they partially occupied, to Bangra, which also believes in Islam.
In recent years, overseas media reported that an Asian-looking native was found in Kenya, Africa, claiming to be a sailor descendant of Zheng He's fleet, revealing that his ancestors had sent giraffes to China.
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Strange appearance
Giraffes are the tallest animals on land. Both men and women have small horns that cover the skin and fluff. Eyes are large and prominent, located on the top of the head, suitable for hyperopia. It is covered with brown and yellow reticulated stripes.
Protruding neck
Giraffes' long necks are unique in the process of species evolution, so that they can eat fresh leaves and tree buds in higher places where other animals can't. But giraffes and other animals only have seven cervical vertebrae, but the spine is longer, and one spine is two meters long.
They are ruminants.
Because they often chew leaves picked from trees, their jaw muscles are always moving, while their faces lack movement and grow slowly, so we can see that giraffes always have a stiff expression.
silence is gold
The giraffe's long tongue is snow blue. This is the color of saxophone, a thrilling color. However, they are not gossips. They are as quiet as nuns and never make a sound. Because they have no vocal cords. Perhaps silence is golden. It should be them. In fact, giraffes can make some noises. )
Giraffe's hypertension
The height advantage of giraffes requires them to have higher blood pressure than ordinary animals, so that the heart can send blood to the brain. Its blood pressure is about three times that of adults.
The inconvenience caused by long legs
Giraffes are inconvenient to drink water because of their long legs. They have to spread their front legs or kneel on the ground to drink water. When drinking water, they are very vulnerable to other animals, so giraffes who live in groups often don't drink together.
Giraffes are distributed in sub-Saharan Africa.
Giraffes live on savanna and forest edge. Is the tallest living animal. Sometimes the groups mixed with zebras, ostriches and antelopes are daytime. He has a keen sense of smell and hearing, and is alert and timid. He usually walks slowly, but he runs fast (up to 56 km/h). Looking for food in the morning and evening, mainly eating all kinds of leaves, thirsty.
The reproductive period of giraffes is not fixed. The gestation period is 14~ 15 months, and each giraffe gives birth to 1 offspring. Sexually mature at 3.5~4.5 years old, with a life span of about 30 years.
Giraffe: There are only 2 genera and 2 species in undergraduate course. They are distributed in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Their legs are long, their necks are long (but there are still seven cervical vertebrae), their ears are big, their eyes are big, and their tongues are long, so they can roll and stretch. Wide feet, two-toed hooves and underdeveloped horizontal toes. Stomach 4, ruminating, no gallbladder.
Giraffes walk slowly, gracefully and generously, with different steps. Left forelimb, left hind limb, right forelimb and right hind limb alternately move forward, which is very dignified and elegant.