How tall is a giraffe and how much does it weigh?
Fully grown giraffes stand between 4.3 and 5.7 metres tall, with males taller than females. The average adult male weighs 1,192 kilograms and the average adult female 828 kilograms.
Questions about Giraffe
Short answers, pulled from the story.
How many species of giraffe are there?
In 2025 the International Union for Conservation of Nature accepted four species of giraffe with seven subspecies, supported by a 2021 whole genome sequencing study and a 2024 cranial morphology study. Giraffes were traditionally treated as a single species, Giraffa camelopardalis, with nine subspecies, and competing analyses have proposed anywhere from two to eight species.
Why do giraffes have such long necks?
Charles Darwin proposed the competing browsers hypothesis, arguing that pressure from smaller browsers pushed the neck longer so giraffes could reach food up to 4.5 metres high. A rival sexual selection hypothesis casts the neck as a weapon used in necking contests, though a 2024 study found females have proportionally longer necks than males.
What is necking in giraffes?
Necking is combat in which male giraffes swing their necks and strike with their ossicones to establish dominance, since males that win gain greater reproductive success. A necking duel can last more than half an hour and has been recorded causing broken jaws, broken necks, and even deaths.
How does a giraffe's heart pump blood up to its brain?
A giraffe's heart weighs about 25 pounds and generates roughly double the blood pressure a human needs, with a wall as thick as 7.5 centimetres and a rate of 150 beats per minute. A network of vessels called a rete mirabile in the upper neck and jugular valves, most commonly seven, keep blood flow steady as the head is lowered and raised.
Are giraffes endangered?
Giraffes were assessed as Vulnerable by the IUCN in 2016, when the wild population was estimated at roughly 97,500, down from 155,000 in 1985. The Masai and reticulated subspecies are endangered, the Nubian is critically endangered, and the main threats are habitat loss and killing for bushmeat markets.
What is the closest relative of the giraffe?
The okapi is the giraffe's closest living relative, and the two are the only living members of the family Giraffidae. The divergence of the giraffe and okapi lineages dates to around 11.5 million years ago.