There are two types of giraffe at Flamingo Land, the Reticulated and the Rothschilds. These are really quite similar, except that the Rothschilds (which is the rarer of the two species) has fuzzier markings.
The giraffe’s natural habitat is open woodland and wooded grassland in sub-Saharan Africa. In the wild their average lifespan is between 10 and 15 years, but in captivity, where they have no predators and are less prone to disease, they can live up to 25 years.
Giraffe live in small herds with one dominant male. They are herbivores, spending much of the day grazing on thorny acacia trees - the males from the high branches, the females from the lower.
The giraffe is the tallest mammal in the world; they can grow up to 19’ (5.7m) – that’s about the height of the gutter on a two-storey house! They can weigh up to 190 stones (1200 kilos). The natural predators of the giraffe young are lions, hyenas and leopards. The real enemy of the fully-grown giraffe is man, who hunts these majestic creatures to make tourist souvenirs.
