21 Things You Didn't Know About Giraffes

The longest day of the year is June 21*, and is now dedicated to the longest-necked animal in the world!

June 21 is World Giraffe Day. And as such, we want to do our part by spreading knowledge and awareness of this amazing animal, and ways you can get involved too! Because we believe that action always starts with awareness!

Here are 21 facts you may not know about giraffes:

1. For a long time, people called the giraffe a camel-leopard, believing it was a combination of a camel and a leopard! That's where the giraffe's species name camelopardalis comes from! 
2. There are 9 giraffe subspecies: Angolan, Kordofan, Nubian, South African or Cape, West African or Nigerian, Reticulated or Somali, Rothschild, Thornicroft, and Masai.
3. Giraffe coat colors vary from light tan to practically black. The differences occur due to what the giraffes eat and where they live. Each individual giraffe’s markings are as individual as our fingerprints!
4. Giraffes are not dependent on drinking water, they stay hydrated through condensation and food.
5. 200 endangered West African Giraffe exist today in 2008 was listed on the IUCN RED List as ‘endangered’.
6. Giraffes only need 5 to 30 minutes of sleep in a 24-hour period! They often achieve that in quick naps that may last only a minute or two at a time.
7. The closest relative to the giraffe is the okapi, which has a much shorter neck relative to body size.
8. It has been estimated that fewer than 5,000 Reticulated giraffes remain in the wild, from an estimated 28,000 as recently as the late 1990s! The Reticulated giraffe is one of the more common captive giraffe with approximately 450 kept in zoos across the world.
9. Giraffes can live to be 25 years old, and even older in captivity!
10. Once mature, the defensive kick of an adult giraffe is enough to seriously damage even the most determined predator, even lions have succumbed to the fierceness of the giraffe's soup bowl size hooves. 
11. The average gestation period for giraffe is approximately 15 months (453-464 days)!
12. Giraffes give birth standing up, requiring the newborn to fall 6.5 feet (2 meters) to the ground! A newborn can stand up and run within an hour of being born!
13. A giraffe's tongue is 18-21 inches long!
14. Even with its long neck, the giraffe has the same number of vertebrae in its neck as humans do, which is 7.
15. A giraffe's head is 2m (7ft) away from it's heart, which makes for a very difficult challenge to pump blood to the brain! They have a relatively small heart yet extremely high blood pressure (twice what's found in humans), and a heart beat up to 170 times per minute (again, twice found in humans)!
16. The patches on a giraffe's body, not only act as camouflage, but also as a thermal window releasing heat from the body.
17. Giraffes' have legs about 6 feet long, allowing them to run 35mph for short distances!
18. Giraffes may eat up to 75 pounds (34 kilograms) of food per day. They spend most of their day eating, because they get just a few leaves in each bite.
19. Giraffe's favorite food, acacia trees, have long thorns that deter most animals — but not giraffes. Their 18-inch (46-centimeter) tongues can reach around the thorns, and their thick, sticky saliva coats any thorns they might swallow.
20. There are fewer than 1,500 Thornicroft giraffes in the wild, and none in captivity. 
21. There are almost no Nubian giraffes in captivity, and fewer than 250 in the wild. 

How you can get involved in honor of World Giraffe Day:

• Share what you know to inspire others to get involved in the plight of the giraffe by sharing this blog post on social media using the links at the bottom of this post!
• Attend an event in your area. Zoos and parks like Fossil Rim Wildlife Center and North Carolina Zoo are holding fun, interactive and educational activities on the day!
• Donate to organizations like Giraffe Conservation Foundation, WWF, Defenders of Wildlife and African Wildlife Foundation. 
• Symbolically adopt a giraffe. Your adoption will help protect giraffes and their habitat.
• Visit a zoo. Did you know zoos play an integral role in wildlife conservation, education and research!

Which fact were you most astonished by? Share your thoughts in the comment box below! We want to hear!

-the team at Little Critterz

*The longest day of the year is on or around June 21 in the Northern Hemisphere. 

Sources include Giraffe Conservation Foundation,  National Geographic, and San Diego Zoo.

Adventure in Botswana: A Trip with LA Zoo

Recently, the Los Angeles  Zoo has begun offering the chance to embark on a real-life safari. Zoo Director, John Lewis, is bringing a group of willing participants on the journey of a lifetime through the countryside of Botswana. The ten day excursion (with additional travel options before or after) takes travelers to various wildlife camps and reserves throughout the country to observe animals in their natural habitat. Among the species native to Botswana are giraffes, baboons, elephants, wildebeests, hippopotamus, lions and hyenas. Highlights of the trip includes stops to the following areas:

Okavango Delta

Considered one of the seven natural wonders of Africa, the Okavango Delta is one of the most varied areas in Botswana as the river directly contrasts with the arid temperature. As a result, a mixture of water-based animals and large herds of various mammals call the region home. An interesting aspect of the Okavango is that all of the water that reaches the delta is either evaporated or transpired and does not flow into any larger body of water. 

Linyanti Wildlife Reserve 

The Linyanti Wildlife Reserve is in one of the most remote and hard-to-get-to regions of Botswana. It contains an enormous population of elephants due to the abundant acacia and mopane forests. The reserve is also world-renowned for its Lions, which have been captured in numerous National Geographic documentaries. 

Any traveler will have the option to extend the trip before, to Cape Town, South Africa, or after to Livingstone and Victoria Fall, Zambia (pictured below), and continue the adventure. 

A percentage of profits for the trip will go directly to the Classic Escape Conservation Fund, which supports conservation and wildlife research throughout Africa. Use this opportunity to give back while exploring one of the most diverse areas on the planet! And you get to travel with a knowledgeable zoo director, ensuring an informative and exciting trip unlike any other!

Visit their website for the full itinerary and other details. For information about booking a spot on the trip call (323) 644-4792. 

World Rhino Day

Each day 2-3 rhinos are killed for their horns, which in some cultures are seen as having healing powers. 

Between 1970 and 1992, the population of the black rhino species decreased by 96%.
Fewer than 200 Greater one-horned rhinos existed earlier in the 20th century.
There currently are approximately 35-44 Javan rhinos surviving in in one country, Indonesia.
Fewer than 100 Sumatran rhinos are believed to survive on the island of Sumatra, with perhaps as few as ten animals remaining in Sabah, Malaysia. 
Only the populations of the Southern white rhino remain viable.The Northern white rhino is believed to be extinct in its last known habitat in Garamba National Park due to poaching.

Oh stop the horror!

Despite the slaughter, rhino numbers worldwide are actually increasing … thanks to the International Rhino Foundation and its partners in countries like Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, India and Indonesia.

Today, September 22, is World Rhino Day. Where we celebrate all 5 remaining species of rhinos. We've said it before, and we'll say it again days like these are important in the plight to spreading awareness and promoting the aid and rehabilitation of endangered species. See wildlife day blog post here. 

You can help save rhinos from extinction by going to zoos. Supporting your local zoo means supporting research, breeding, rehabilitating and reintroducing these endangered species back into the wild. 

Other ways to help according to the IRF: 

White Rhinos

Support our Stop Poaching Now! campaign. Train and equip rhino rangers in South Africa and Zimbabwe, empower legal professionals to prosecute wildlife crime, and employ specially-trained “Horn Dogs” to track rhino horn poachers and smugglers.

Black Rhinos

Funds are needed to move rhinos threatened by poachers to more secure areas in Zimbabwe’s Lowveld region and for our project to reintroduce the black rhino to Botswana by translocating animals from South Africa.

Greater One-horned Rhinos

Re-establish rhino populations in India’s Manas National Park and Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary. Help us increase the number of rhinos in Assam to 3,000 animals by the year 2020.

Sumatran Rhinos

Employ Rhino Protection Units in Indonesia’s Bukit Barisan Selatan and Way Kambas National Parks, home to two-thirds of the world’s Sumatran rhinos, of which only about 100 are believed to remain. Support our breeding efforts at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary.

Javan Rhinos

Employ Rhino Protection Units in Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park, the final stronghold for the Javan rhino. Less than 50 remain. If this population disappears, the species will be gone forever.

Ways to Celebrate // Happy Wildlife Day!

Today is National Wildlife Day. Most people shrug off days like today, or Earth Day or Dog Day, etc. But isn't it symbolic, like a birthday, a day to appreciate and celebrate a particular being? Let's celebrate! In this case it's not Timmy down the street, but all wildlife on this earth.

Wildlife includes all animals, plants, fungi, and organisms that are non-domesticated by humans, although it is agreed by most scientists that all wildlife is affected by human species (no surprise there, right?)

Every species is an important of it's ecosystem, and thus the ecosystem of the planet and consequently humans. Jonas Salk once said that if all humans disappeared from the Earth all life would flourish in 50 years, but if insects disappeared all life would end.

That's a very surprising, and humanizing concept (no pun intended). Humans have a unique ability to create and destroy on a massive scale, and like most people, we here at Little Critterz believe in minimizing destruction and conserving the planet for all life on it now, and for generations to come.

So hats off to all the wildlife on Earth. We are entertained and mesmerized by you. We learn from you. We appreciate you. So let's donate to an organization today whose commitment to wildlife preserves the species. Visit your local zoo or aquarium because their efforts are crucial to the survival, education, and research to wildlife. Watch a wildlife documentary to learn about a new species or environment. Or make a purchase on Little Critterz so we can continue to support non-profit wildlife organizations. Whatever you do today, Happy Wildlife Day!

Some of our favorite wildlife species. What's yours?

penguin / caribou / dolphin 

fawn / camel / frog

turtle / octopus / elephant

The Lion Whisperer

Okay, this guy is cool. His name is Kevin Richardson and his nickname is The Lion Whisperer. Why you ask? A self taught animal behaviorist, Kevin has spent his entire life caring for animals and the better part of his adult life breaking every safety rule in the book building relationships with natural born predators. Not believing in traditional methods of breaking an animal's spirit with sticks and chains, but instead using love, understanding and trust to develop personal bonds and getting to know their personalities, what makes them happy or irritated.

Kevin runs The Kingdom Wildlife Sanctuary for lions, hyenas, leopards and antelope in South Africa. The sanctuary is made up of a number of natural enclosures where the animals rotate to keep them stimulated and enriched. He is apart of the PAW Protecting African Wildlife Conservation Trust and is passionate about stopping the legal slaughter of 1000 lions annual for sport.

You can watch Kevin on his show on the National Geographic Channel called The Lion Ranger, or his feature film or numerous documentaries. Volunteer options are available - talk about an experience!