Behavior & Socail Structure

Giraffe cows spend over half of their day browsing. Bulls spend less time feeding (43%), but more time walking (22% as against 13% for cows) in their perpetual search for females to mate with. Nights are mostly spent lying down, ruminating. The giraffe has one of the shortest sleep requirements of any mammal, which is between ten minutes and two hours in a twenty-four hour period.

Giraffes were thought to be mute for many years; however, although generally quiet, they do have a range of vocalizations. Giraffe calves bleat or make mewing calls, and cows seeking lost calves bellow. Courting bulls may cough raucously. Alarm snorts, moaning, snoring, hissing, and flutelike sounds have also been heard. Research suggests giraffes may communicate with infrasonic sound, as do elephants
and blue whales—which suggests their social system may be more complex than once thought.

Often, giraffes will associate with other large herbivores such as zebras, gnus, and ostriches in mixed foraging groups. Giraffes commonly have ox-peckers riding on their backs. These useful birds feed on large insect and tick parasites that can be common on the hides of giraffes and other large mammals.
Bull giraffes fight among themselves, using powerful swings of their knobby-topped heads, aiming at

the neck or chest of their rival, this behavior is known as necking. Old bulls that are unable to maintain a harem live a life solitary from other giraffes.

The Herd

The herd size is greatly influenced by food availability. The more abundant the food the larger the herd. Adult males are fairly solitary, spending most of their time alone. Whereas females are often found in mixed groups, and calves and sub-adult giraffes are rarely alone. Giraffe groups are loose, scattered herds of up to 40 giraffes. They are highly transient, changing every few hours, with the exception of calving groups, which may be loosely maintained over weeks or months. Mature males often roam in search of breeding females, and fight for dominance using their necks and buttressed skulls. Overall, the giraffe’s social grouping is one of convenience, not social bonds. The only significant bond observed in a giraffe herd is that of a cow and her calf.

Giraffes are non-territorial, but do have home ranges that can vary enormously in size, from 2 to 252 mi2 (5–654 km2), depending on food and water availability. Giraffes have been known to cover 580 mi2 (1,500 km2) in the Sahel of Niger looking for food in the dry season.

Calves and Sub-Adults

Young giraffes are considered calves for the first year and a half of their lives, after that hey are classed as sub-adults, and at 5 years, when they reach sexual maturity, giraffes are considered adults.

Parenting

Cows care for their calves from birth until around 13-16 months, when young become more independent and are classed as sub-adults. For the first few weeks the calf remains hidden in the shade with the mother returning to it, and later it joins a crèche. Because giraffes are promiscuous, males take no part in caring for the young. Calves are about six feet tall at birth, weigh about 150 pounds, can stand within minutes and begin nursing as early as an hour after birth. Infants nurse until they are around 6-9 months old, but may also begin to eat vegetation as early as three weeks of age. Overall, parental care consists of nursing, protection, and to some extent, socialization. Mothers are often found to investigate potential threats, and they will defend their calves from predators by placing themselves between the predator and their calve, and by kicking the predator.

Necking

males often engage in necking, which has been described as having various functions. One of these is combat. Battles can be fatal, but are more often less severe. The longer the neck, and the heavier the head at the end of the neck, the greater the force a giraffe is able to deliver in a blow. It has also been observed that males that are successful in necking have greater access to estrous females, so the length of the neck may be a product of sexual selection.

After a necking duel, a giraffe can land a powerful blow with his head — occasionally knocking a male opponent to the ground. These fights rarely last more than a few minutes or end in physical harm.

Stereotypic behaviour

Many animals when kept in captivity, such as in zoos, display abnormal behaviours. Such unnatural behaviours are known as stereotypic behaviours.[8] In particular, giraffes show distinct patterns of stereotypic behaviours when removed from their natural environment. Due to a subconscious response to suckle milk from their mother, something which many human reared giraffes, and other captive animals do not experience, giraffes resort instead to excessive tongue use on inanimate objects.[9]

Due to the obvious social and cultural discomfort associated with the addition of milk delivery devices, animal enclosures are often enriched with other stimulus, such as food and mental distractions (toys, scent markings etc). This operates as a distraction, removing the giraffe’s focus from its instinctual tendencies towards suckling, resulting in tongue lolling and licking of objects in close proximity.

Sleep

The giraffe has one of the shortest sleep requirements of any mammal, which is between 10 minutes and two hours in a 24-hour period, averaging 1.9 hours per day.[10] This has led to the myth that giraffes cannot lie down and that if they do so, they will die.[citation needed]

Sounds

Giraffes are thought to be mute; however, although generally quiet, they have been heard to make various sounds. Courting males will emit loud coughs. Females will call their young by whistling or bellowing. Calves will bleat, moo, or make mewing sounds. In addition, giraffes will grunt, snort, hiss, or make strange flute-like sounds. Recent research has shown evidence that the animal communicates at an infrasound level.

Giraffes spend up to half their time feeding, and most of the remainder is taken up either by searching for food or slowly digesting what they have eaten. Giraffes are ruminants (animals that regurgitate partially digested food and chew it again) like sheep and cows. Giraffes are mostly diurnal (active during the day). Sometimes they doze during the daytime, often while standing. They normally lie down only at night, tucking their feet under the body and usually keeping the head upright. However, when a giraffe is sleeping—something it does for just a few minutes at a time—it curves its neck around and rests its head on or near its rump.

Although giraffes are social animals, their herds are less structured than those of most other mammals. A typical herd of giraffes contains up to ten members, and animals can leave or join it at any time. The giraffes are often so widely scattered that they seem out of contact with one another, but the animal’s keen eyesight can keep neighbors in view from great distances away. Giraffe herds do not have a leader, and individual giraffes show no particular preferences for others in the herd. Notable exceptions to this rule are young males, which often form bachelor herds, and females with calves, which often feed together.

One of the most striking elements of giraffe behavior is the duel between males fighting for mating privileges. Giraffe duels are among the most extraordinary in the animal kingdom. They start when two males approach each other and begin to rub and intertwine their necks. This behavior—known as necking—allows the opponents to assess each other’s size and strength. Often, necking alone is enough to establish seniority. If not, the rivals begin to exchange blows with their heads. Each giraffe braces its front legs and swings its head upward and over its shoulder. If a blow lands solidly—and many do not—the recipient may stagger under the impact, and in rare cases may even collapse onto the ground. More often the contest breaks off after a few minutes, and the loser simply walks away.

Unlike many of Africa’s plant-eating mammals, giraffes can get all the moisture they need from their food—particularly when it is covered in dew. As a result, they do not need to migrate in search of water. The average home range of a giraffe is about 150 sq km (44 sq mi), although giraffes can spend their whole lives in an area as small as 5 sq km (1.5 sq mi) in regions where food is abundant throughout the year. Immature male giraffes wander the farthest, but as they become fully grown their home range becomes dramatically smaller.

Adult giraffes have no enemies other than lions and humans, as their huge hooves are very effective in defending against predators. They are more vulnerable when they are lying down or drinking, because this gives lions the opportunity to leap up and seize them by the nose or throat. Newly born calves are at much greater risk. Despite their mothers’ best efforts to protect them, over 50 percent of all giraffe newborns are killed by hyenas and big cats such as lions and leopards during the first month of life.

Male Advertising Dominance Male
A big hull walking confidendy in the erect posture, head high, or urine" testing males. Observe behavior of other bulls toward such an animal especially whether they discreedy move out of his path.
Aggression
Males only. Females, do not spar or fight.
1. Challenger makes nonchalant approach, stands facing opponent in erect posture. Probable winner of a sparring contest can be foretold if one stands more erect or is taller than the other.
2. If opponent responds in kind, they have a confrontation.
3. They move stiff legged into parallel posinon, or
4. March in step with necks horizontal, looking straight ahead.
5. They rub heads and necks and twine necks or lean against one another, ears flapping (low intensity), with pauses while gazing into distance. Assessing opponent's weight.
6. Contestants aim blows at rump, flanks, or neck either from head to head or head to tail posinon, damping impact by leaning away. Skillful rocking with blows avoids damage. The rare hard blow that lands solidly can down an opponent.
Standing broadside in erect posture.
Angle horn threat from broadside stance. Aiming horns at adversary is intentional movement or threat to strike a blow.
OTHER ACTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THREAT DISPLAYS
Sideswiping, mounting, displacement activities.
Submission
Giving way turning away from approaching individual; jumping aside. Yielding to displacing superior.
Head and ears lowered, chin in. Appeasement display.
Displacement Activities
Pretended feeding; scraping with incisors or licking.
Courtship
MALE BEHAVIOR
Following female, closely and keeping other males away. Tending bond indicates female approaching or in estrus.
Urine testing with pronounced lip curl.
Contact rubbing head on female's rump, licking her tail, nudging, gentle bumng, resting neck on her back.
Foreleg lifting.
Standing immobile in erect posture behind c, Prelude to mounnng.
FEMALE BEHAVIOR
Bolting and rapid tail swishing.
Female urinating in response to male approach and contact/sniffing.
Courtship circling.
Holding tail out and deflected while standing in copulatory attitude (head up or down, ears back).
Mating. Male looks in danger of overbalancing
Mother and Offspring
Young calves standing seemingly alone, just looking around.
Young calves in creches.
Play
Racing around mother after nursing; calves gamboling; nose to nose greeting; older calves sparring. Especially early and late in day.
Response to Predators
Alert posture, head raised to maximum. Mothers of small calves especially vigilant.
Snorting. Rarely heard.
Kicking with front or hind feet. Response to close approach, especially females with calf.

Reprinted from "The Safari Companion" by Richard Estes
Spook Skelton wildlife