The Giraffe – The World’s Tallest Animal with with very big Heart ... Art by Damko Wangyal

The Giraffe is the world’s tallest living animal – a male giraffe grows up to 16-18 feet tall (4.9 – 5.5 metres). The tallest ever giraffe was 19.2 feet tall! Scientists call the giraffe Giraffa Camelopardus.  The word “Giraffe” comes from the Arabic word for “tall”. In olden times the giraffe was called a “Camel-leopard”, since it had spots a bit like a leopard, but walked a bit like a camel. Because the giraffe is so tall, it has some other special features.

First of all, to pump blood all the way up its long neck, the giraffe needs a very strong heart. In fact, its heart weighs 26 lb (12 kg), making it the biggest heart in the animal kingdom! Also, it has special blood vessels in its head to prevent it from fainting when it lifts its head suddenly!

When a giraffe is kept in a zoo, it is sometimes the tallest thing in the whole zoo. This means it’s the most likely to be struck by lightning during a thunderstorm! In the wild, giraffes live amongst trees that are taller than they – and besides, the places they live have much less lightning than most other places in the world.