Giraffe

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/giraffe

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific name?Giraffa camelopardalis
2. What is the conservation status?Vulnerable, with some subspecies listed as Endangered or Critically Endangered
3. What makes giraffes the tallest animals in the world?Giraffes have a neck that can reach up to 6 feet long, made of seven elongated vertebrae. This gives them a height that is taller than any other land animal.
4. How does a giraffe's heart keep its blood flowing up its long neck?A giraffe's heart weighs about 25 pounds and is almost 2 feet long. It pumps blood with about twice the pressure of a human heart, and a special network of vessels called a rete mirabile helps keep the brain supplied when the giraffe lowers its head.

Cervical Vertebrae: The bones that make up the neck of an animal.
Ruminant: An animal, such as a cow or giraffe, that digests food by first eating it, then regurgitating it as 'cud' to be chewed again.
Anthropogenic: Originating in human activity.