ePostcard #3: Giraffes

by | Mar 30, 2020 | 2 comments

Greetings!

The excellent 2018 documentary, The Woman Who Loves Giraffes, is based on the life of Dr. Anne Innis Dagg, the Canadian zoologist, feminist and pioneer in the study of animal behavior in the wild. Dagg is credited with being the first to study wild giraffes and her many research contributions to our understanding of giraffe biology and behaviour provided the inspiration for this e-postcard.

E-Postcard #3: Giraffes

Describing a giraffe as “a tall drink of water” is an understatement! Strangely beautiful, these graceful hoofed browsers are the tallest animals in the world. With their long legs and neck, giraffes have the ability to strip leaves and flowers from the uppermost branches of trees, well beyond the reach of most browsers. Despite their speed when galloping and their ability to kill an attacking lion with a well-placed kick, the giraffe’s vulnerability to predators becomes readily apparent when you watch them spread their legs and lower their head to drink at a waterhole. Physiologically, giraffes are well adapted to suddenly lowering or lifting their heads. Their blood pressure does not fluctuate dramatically because a special system of blood vessels equalizes the pressure in their heads to protect the brain.

 

2 Comments

  1. I think I love your written (and educational) descriptions as much as your exquisite photography. Thank you for these offerings.

    Reply
    • Thank you so much for your lovely comments about my ePostcards! I’m currently at work on #99 and #100, so you’ve brightened a snowy September day in Colorado. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to learn, observe and photograph in some of the most beautiful places on Earth.

      Reply

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