Is there any animal more gangly-looking than a giraffe?   Yet the long-legged, long-necked creature appears almost regal.  There’s an odd elegance to it.  (If you’ve ever seen giraffes in person, you understand; they command one’s attention!)

Giraffes are not your every-day sort of animal. The ancient Romans were fascinated by giraffes, calling them “camel-leopards” because of their body structure and colorization.  The Chinese emperor Yongle, when presented with a giraffe as a gift in the early 1400s, regarded it as a qulin (a mythical creature along the lines of a unicorn). 

The lanky creature still intrigues viewers today.

Giraffes are the tallest land-dwelling animal.  A mature male giraffe stands an astounding 15-19 feet tall, while females reach an almost as impressive 13-16 feet.  Their necks comprise half of their height (as much as almost 8 feet!) while their long legs contribute up to another 6 feet.  Just their tails alone can stretch to 8 feet long!  Males typically weigh between 2,000 and 4,000 pounds; females between 1,200 and 2,500.

These herbivores reach these impressive dimensions by eating primarily acacia leaves, buds and twigs.  But they ingest a lot of it – approximately 75 pounds per day!  Their long, dexterous tongues (18 inches!) are highly efficient at wrapping around potential food, delicately plucking it off limbs and delivering it into their mouths.  After grinding the greenery in their palate, the leaves are swallowed for processing in their complex stomach, and then passed all the way back up the neck for further chewing.

Giraffes gain 70% of their moisture from the foliage they eat, so they typically only drink once every several days.  If need be, they can go without water for as long as three weeks.  When they do drink, they must splay their front legs at a 45 degree angle to reach the water with their mouths.

Their coats consist of patches of orange, chestnut, brown or nearly black, surrounded by white or cream-colored borders.  This camouflage pattern can hide the animals well in the mixed light and shade of savannah woodlands, something especially important for the newborns.  Both males and females have 5 inch cartilage “horns” called ossicones on their heads – the females’ ossicones displaying tufts of hair on top while the ones on bulls are bald.

Giraffes are social creatures, residing in herds for both comfort and safety.  A gathering of giraffes is referred to with the descriptive and appropriate term “tower.”

Full-grown giraffes have few predators beyond lions and humans.  Their excellent vision and elevated sight-plane assist in avoiding danger, and their long, powerful legs brandishing dinner-plate sized hooves (12 inches in diameter!) prove effective at dissuading most aggressors.  However, the young face a 25-50% mortality rate in the first months of their lives due to leopards, lions and hyenas – despite their mothers’ best efforts to defend them.

The calves are born via a headfirst drop of five feet from their standing mommas.  (Imagine that!)  Amazingly, they are rarely hurt in the process.  When born their necks are significantly shorter in proportion than they will be as adults, but newborns still stand about 6 feet tall and weigh up to 150 pounds!  In 20 minutes the calves are standing; within an hour they are able to walk; in a day run.  In just a year giraffe calves can measure 10 feet tall.

The stature of a giraffe is obviously impressive.  A less evident but perhaps even more astonishing feature is the circulatory system in the creatures – their great height necessitating special traits in order to enable basic function.  Their two-foot, 25 pound hearts must generate an extraordinary amount of blood pressure to maintain blood flow to the brain that resides eight feet above. 

Yet this would be a major complication whenever the animal lowers its head, causing excess blood flow to the brain, were it not for a complex network of arteries and veins that prevents it.  Meanwhile, as excess blood is blocked from the head, a series of valves in the neck ensure that blood is also flowing through the veins from the head back to the heart, even with the head down, (countering the pull of gravity!).  In the same way, as it raises its head again, blood vessels constrict and push blood into the brain, keeping the animal from fainting.  (How incredible!)

Another remarkable trait of giraffes is how little they sleep.  They can function with only five to thirty minute’s sleep in a 24-hour period, though they typically sleep several hours.  (Even that amount being scant.)  They will rest lying down, especially at night, but can also sleep standing.  When in a deep sleep, they will bend their necks backward and rest their heads on their hips or thighs.

Giraffes have only two gaits: walking and galloping.  When running, they can sprint about 37 miles per hour, and can sustain 31 mph for over a mile … their necks moving backward and forward in rhythm to maintain balance.

Originally the species populated over twenty African nations.  Now they are extinct in seven.  They are primarily found in East Africa; though Southern Africa boasts some.  The largest concentration of giraffes is found in national parks and reserves.  Typical life span of a giraffe in the wild is about 25 years; they can live longer in captivity.

Not surprisingly, giraffes are the celebrities of the evolutionists, who propose that the animals were forced to stretch and grow longer necks and legs over time as tropical forests reverted to more open savannahs.  The argument goes that the giraffes “needed” the extra length to reach the most luxurious browse in the tops of trees to survive, so over countless years of reaching, their necks and legs evolved. 

Yet, as Wikipedia records, the early fossil records demonstrate that “the elongation of the neck appears to have started early in the giraffe lineage.”  Well, of course that’s what the fossil records show!  Because that’s how the Creator, in his unrivaled creativity, created them on Day Six of Creation!  (Along with all of their other remarkable special features or “adaptations,” as biologists call them).

In fact, the wonders of the animal called a giraffe denounce as foolishness any other conclusion than that the Lord made them with all their unique and astounding features and in all their oddly elegant splendor. 

How imaginative is our God!  How wondrous are his works!   How blessed are we to recognize this, and how natural then is our praise.

The psalmist had it right:  “Praise the LORD. I will extol the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and compassionate” (Psalm 111:1-4).

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Genesis 1:24-25
And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.