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How Giraffes Sort the Leaves from the Thornsby Scotch MacaskillAn adult giraffe eats up to 34 kg (75 lb) of foliage a day. You'd think, to get that much down it's throat, it wouldn't have time to be selective. Yet that's not the case. Same as us, giraffes also like tasty titbits and when they find a source, will happily spend time plucking small, succulent leaves from the top of a tree. The familiar, umbrella-shaped thorn trees of the African savannah provide one such favored source. The picture below (left) shows an adult male giraffe about to start feeding on a thorn tree in the Weenen Game Reserve, a smallish nature reserve in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province. I was able to approach fairly close on foot and watched, fascinated, as the giraffe began browsing, sticking its long muzzle deep into the thicket of spiny branches. Unconcerned by the mass of thorns, the giraffe flicked his long tongue around selected twigs, stripping away the green leaves - see picture below, right.
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Contact Details: Scotch Macaskill, Dirt Road Traders, Currys Post Road, Howick, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Tel: +27 (0)82 578 2329. Privacy: Your privacy is guaranteed. See our Privacy Policy for more. This site accepts advertising and other forms of compensation - see Disclosure and Advertising for details. Site updated: 2019. Copyright © 2002 - 2019 Scotch Macaskill |