Young Giraffes

You and I learnt to walk when we were a few months old, but baby giraffes can walk after only twenty minutes. Baby giraffes live in a dangerous world. Lions and other animals like to eat them, so the babies must learn quickly. They learn to run fast and to stay on their feet almost all of the time. Even at night, giraffes do not lie down. They stand by a tree and sleep. Big giraffes have long legs and they can run at fifty kilometres per hour. The English word giraffe comes from the Arabic word xirapha. The word means 'runs fast'.

Giraffe’s also have very long tongues. A giraffes tongue can be fifty centimetres long! Giraffes use their tongues for cleaning them selves! Their tongues are important for other things too. A giraffe’s favourite food is green leaves from acacia trees. These trees have sharp thorns, but the giraffe’s tongue can go between the thorns. The giraffe’s long neck is important because the best leaves are at the tops of the trees. Giraffes love these leaves, and they eat for about eighteen hours every day.

Taken from Junior Comprehension 1, 1999