The most obvious fact about giraffes is that they are tall – they are the tallest mammals on the planet. They have very long legs – longer than the average height of a human – and very long necks. They tend to eat leaves from trees, wrapping their long tongues around them to grab hold of them, but get a lot of their water from the plants too. Their necks are too short to reach the ground comfortably, so on the rare occasions they drink water they need to kneel down to do so.

Giraffes spend the vast majority of their lives standing. Calves are born whilst the mother is standing – dropped to Earth from quite a height! They even sleep standing up, although they only need half an hour or less per day and often have tiny power naps spread across the day.

Despite their size, giraffes are prey for some animals such as lions and hyenas. They are therefore surprisingly quick, even though they generally appear quite docile. They can also fight between themselves – the hairy lumps on a giraffes head are called ossicones and the males sometimes use these hairy horns to attack each other.