Female giraffes, called cows, weigh 1000 to 1500 pounds, compared with bulls, which reach 2000 pounds or more.
Mothers show tender, loving care to their calves for several months, until they grow big enough to join the adults. During the early morning daylight, a mother will hide her calf under a bush or in tall grass. Lying with its neck and head curled over its back, it blends in with the coloring around it and is not easily seen. Meanwhile, the mother is busy finding her food, returning about noon and again at night to nurse her calf.
Frequently several mothers with calves form a group. At night one stands guard while the others sleep with their own calves. Then in the morning when it is time to go searching for food, one or two of the mothers remain behind to “baby-sit” all the calves. If lions or hyenas come near, the baby-sitter bellows loudly. All the giraffes who hear the bellow come running to attack or chase away the intruders. These are God-given instincts that show His care over them.
Giraffes can live on grass and other ground plants, but it is much easier to reach the leaves and tender twigs of trees and tall bushes when eating their daily requirement of a hundred pounds or more. The leaves and blossoms of acacia trees are a favorite food. Acacias have sharp thorns, but lips as tough as shoe leather handle that problem. It is interesting to see how God gave them this eating habit to enable certain acacia trees to reproduce. It has been discovered that the seeds of many of these trees will not germinate until they have passed through the four stomachs of a giraffe and then are discarded.
Getting a drink is not an easy job for a giraffe. It must lower its head to reach the water and then raise its head to swallow. This raising and lowering of its head about twenty feet would normally cause such a rush of blood that the giraffe would black out and fall over. But the Creator planned for this too. Within its veins and arteries, a system of valves keeps the blood flowing evenly, no matter what movement may be made. Also, at the base of its brain, blood vessels automatically expand when its head is lowered and contract when suddenly raised. What a Master Designer we have! God’s creation worked right the first time. There was no problem here for so wise a Creator.
An animal this big needs lots of blood, and so it has been given a larger heart which weighs about twenty-five pounds and pumps blood through its body at the rate of fifteen gallons a minute.
The next time you see one of these interesting animals in the zoo, think how wisely the Lord God, its Creator, has provided for all its needs.
ML-09/27/2009