A very tall African animal with a long neck, long legs, and spotted coat, that eats leaves from high tree branches.
From Italian *giraffa*, from Arabic *zarāfa*, likely from an African source word. The animal’s striking shape fascinated travelers, so its name moved through several languages before entering English. Early descriptions often focused on its camel-like body and leopard-like spots.
A giraffe’s neck has the same number of bones as your neck — just much longer ones. Its heart has to pump blood up a two-meter neck, so it’s massively powerful, making the giraffe a gentle-looking animal with extreme internal engineering.
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