Giraffes are herbivores, meaning their diet consists exclusively of plants. As animals that obtain energy and nutrients from consuming plant material, giraffes are a prominent example of this dietary classification in the African savanna. Their unique physical characteristics and feeding habits distinguish them significantly from other plant-eating animals.
What Giraffes Eat
Giraffes primarily consume leaves, shoots, flowers, and fruits from woody plants, categorizing them as browsers rather than grazers. They have a particular preference for the thorny acacia species, which forms a significant portion of their diet. Giraffes also feed on mimosa and apricot trees, along with various other leaves, buds, and branches depending on seasonal availability.
Adult male giraffes consume approximately 65 kilograms (145 pounds) of food per day. Females may consume around 2.1% of their body weight in dry food daily, while males consume about 1.6%. Giraffes spend a substantial portion of their day, often between 16 and 20 hours, foraging to meet their energy requirements. They also obtain most of their necessary water from the foliage they consume, an important adaptation in arid habitats.
How Giraffes Are Adapted for Their Diet
Giraffes have several adaptations for their specialized browsing diet. Their most recognizable feature, the long neck, allows them to reach foliage at heights of up to 6 meters (20 feet), accessing food sources unavailable to most other ground-based herbivores. Their prehensile tongues extend 45 to 50 centimeters (18 to 20 inches) and are dexterous, grasping and stripping leaves from branches. The tongue’s dark pigmentation may also protect from sunburn during prolonged feeding.
Their specialized lips are flexible and hairy, providing protection against the sharp prickles and thorns often found on their preferred plants, such as acacia. Giraffes lack upper front teeth; instead, they possess a tough dental pad that works with their lower incisors to shear off leaves. Strong molars located at the back of their mouths are used to grind the tough plant material. As ruminants, giraffes have a four-chambered stomach, allowing them to chew their cud and efficiently digest fibrous plant matter. Thick, viscous saliva further aids in protecting their mouths from thorns.
The Ecological Role of Giraffe Herbivory
The browsing habits of giraffes influence plant communities in their savanna ecosystems. By consuming leaves and shoots from trees, particularly acacia, they act as natural pruners, which can stimulate new shoot production. Their foraging patterns shape the physical form of trees, leading to umbrella-shaped acacia crowns where lower branches are pruned to the maximum height giraffes can reach.
Giraffes also contribute to seed dispersal by consuming fruits and then depositing seeds through their waste in new locations, aiding plant regeneration. Their specialized diet, focused on high-reaching foliage, minimizes direct competition for food with other herbivores that graze on lower vegetation. This unique feeding niche helps maintain diverse plant species across the landscape. The interaction between giraffes and acacia trees represents a dynamic relationship, where trees have evolved defenses like thorns and chemical deterrents, and giraffes, in turn, have developed adaptations to overcome these defenses.