Gentle Giants of the Serengeti

At first glance, the giraffe and the rhinoceros, two of Africa's most remarkable beasts, appear as different as two animals can be. The giraffe - tall, majestic, and gentle - is the picture of grace and beauty, while the rhino appears quite menacing with its rough, gray hide, short, stocky build and prominent nose horns.

Yet these fascinating animals are similar in many ways. Both are among the largest beasts in the world. Both are plant-eaters, foraging for food among the grasses and acacia trees of the Serengeti. Both are generally social and gentle, but fierce - even deadly - when threatened. And both are uniquely suited for life in the African savanna.

Giraffes: Surviving and Thriving in the Serengeti

From the day of its birth, a giraffe is equipped for life in the wild and dangerous Serengeti. Because giraffe females, or cows, give birth standing up, a giraffe calf falls six feet to the ground at birth. Within an hour, the calf can stand on its own, allowing it to drink its mother's milk. By age four, the calf will grow up to 18 feet (5.5 m) tall and 4,200 pounds (1,905 kg).

About 58 percent of giraffe calves will die in their first year, mostly due to attacks by lions, leopards, and African wild dogs. If they survive their first year, giraffes can live to be 25 years old.

Giraffe cows and their young live together in herds of 10 to 20 animals. The older giraffes watch out for the calves and protect them from danger. At about three years of age, male giraffes, or bulls, separate from their mothers and join bachelor herds. As they reach maturity, these bulls go off on their own, moving among different herds of females.

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Article by Valerie Deveraux
Photographs by $PLAYER

Nine different types of giraffes live in Africa, each with its own pattern of spots. Giraffes are the tallest animals in the world.

The rhino's plated appearance comes from folds in its tough hide. A white rhino can weigh up to 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg).

A male giraffe who defeats another in a necking contest becomes the dominant bull in the herd.

Giraffe bulls test each others' fighting ability in "necking" contests, in which the giraffes bang their necks and heads together, trying to poke each other with their horns. Real fights occur when a bull challenges the dominant male in a herd.

Giraffe herds have a large range and may roam across 40 or more square miles (100 square km) looking for food. The giraffe's favorite foods are the leaves and shoots from the top of the acacia tree. Giraffes are uniquely suited to acquiring and processing this food: their long necks allow them to reach branches that other plant-eaters cannot reach, and their 18-inch (46 cm) tongues and thick, sticky saliva help them avoid acacia thorns that keep other animals away.

Giraffes are also well suited to avoiding predators on the savanna. Besides humans, only lions and crocodiles prey on adult giraffes. Normally gentle animals, giraffes can defend themselves with a deadly kick when they must. Giraffes also can outrun many predators, moving at speeds of up to 35 miles per hour (56 kph).

Giraffes are most vulnerable to attack when drinking. To drink, a giraffe must spread its front legs and lower its head, putting it in a position where it is unable to see any approaching danger. Members of the herd take turns drinking and keeping watch.

Today giraffes are quite common in East and South Africa, despite recent decreases in numbers. Unlike many other savanna wildlife, their populations continue to survive and thrive across the Serengeti.

A giraffe eats up to 75 pounds (34 kg)of food each day and spends 16 to 20 hours per day eating. The food giraffes eat contains enough water to allow them to go weeks without a drink if necessary.

Giraffes avoid blackouts when drinking thanks to special valves in the neck veins that prevent blood from flooding the head.

Rhinos: Living Under Threat of Extinction Rhinos have lived on the African savanna for close to 50 million years. During that time, their defense mechanisms, eating habits, and social patterns have become refined to the point where today's rhinos are ideally suited to life in the Serengeti. Aside from humans, no predator on the plains will challenge a healthy, mature rhinoceros.

Today, two types of rhinos can be found in the Serengeti region: the black rhino and the white rhino. Both rhinos are hairless and have two horns. Both are quite nearsighted, relying on their keen hearing and sense of smell to detect danger. Though their names suggest a certain color hide, both rhinos may appear gray, black, white, or even red, depending on the mud they've been wallowing in.

All African rhinos are, for the most part, solitary animals, but white rhinos sometimes form small groups. Male rhinos, or bulls, establish their own territories, outlining them with urine and stacks of dung. These smelly borders warn other bulls to stay out of the area. When another male does challenge the rhino, the two bulls show each other their horns by turning their heads from side to side. When they fight, the rhinos use their front horns like a club and then jab with the tip.

One key difference between the white rhino and the black rhino is in the mouth. White rhinos have wide, straight lips ideally suited to grazing for the short grasses they prefer. Black rhinos have a narrow, bullet-shaped head with a pointy upper lip. This pointy upper lip is prehensile - able to grab and grasp the branches, twigs, and fruit that the black rhino feeds on.

Both black and white rhinos are indeed well adapted to the trials of life in the Serengeti. The one threat rhinos cannot contend with, however, is humans. The black rhino is disappearing faster than any other large animal on Earth; in just 30 years, the population has decreased from 100,000 to 2,500. White rhino numbers have been similarly decimated. Decades of hunting and habitat destruction have threatened these gentle creatures with extinction. Though rhino hunting is now outlawed and almost all rhinos live in protected areas, illegal poaching of rhinos continues to meet demand for rhinoceros horn, highly prized in the Middle East and Asia. Only through continued conservation efforts can Africa hope to save this gentle giant of the Serengeti.

Rhino horns are made of keratin, just like claws, hair, and hooves. Rhinos use their horns, which can grow to 6 feet (1.8 m) in length, to spear and toss enemies, to dig for water, plants, and salt, and to break branches.

The hulking rhino is a force to be reckoned with on his own territory and will fight to protect it.

White rhinos, also known as "square-lipped" rhinos, feed exclusively on grasses.

For more information, visit: African Wildlife Foundation: Giraffe Ecotravel - A Guide to the Giraffe Ecotravel - The Rhino Kids Planet

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