Big herbivores!

[Spalea]

Beverly Joubert: " Drinking water is not easy for giraffes. The long-necked mammals are forced to momentarily relinquish their graceful stature and instead adopt a rather ungainly pose, splaying their legs and bending their iconic necks towards the ground in order to lower their heads to the water’s surface. It’s a cumbersome affair. And the seemingly simply task requires special, biological adaptations. Giraffes have massive hearts, specialised muscles in their veins and very high blood pressure which helps keep them from passing out when quickly dropping and lifting their heads to drink. When a giraffe raises its head, lots of blood is pumped directly to the animal’s brain to help keep it from fainting. Luckily giraffes get most of their moisture from condensation on the leaves that they eat, so they don’t need to drink very often. "

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