did you know that giraffes are really fucking gay?

~94% of all sexual activity between giraffes observed in the wild is contact between males, which starts with necking and often leads to mounting 🦒 #GiraffeFacts

@Mooncake giraffe info from https://giraffeconservation.org/giraffe-species/

a map of their current ranges, descriptions of each species and subspecies, and how to distinguish between their coats and patterns 🦒 #GiraffeFacts

did you know that giraffes eat bones?

osteophagia (bone eating) is a well documented habit in wild giraffes, who will crunch up parts of picked over carcasses for the minerals within, most importantly phosphorus. giraffes are also known to pick off bits of sun dried meat from carcasses to supplement their diet 🦒 #GiraffeFacts

did you know that the horn-like structure on top of giraffe’s heads are called ossicones?

they’re made completely of cartilage when a giraffe is born, but they ossify (turn to bone) as a giraffe ages. youngsters and females have full tufts of hair at the top but males tend to go bald there as they reach adulthood.

due to the high density of blood vessels in the ossicone, leading theory posits they play an important role in thermoregulation, similar to elephant ears 🦒 #GiraffeFacts

do you know how many kinds of giraffes there are?

classifications have changed over time, but the most recent genetic studies suggest four species of giraffe with five subspecies, for a total of seven distinct groups. these are:

• Northern
- Kordofan
- Nubian
- West African
• Southern
- South African
- Angolan
• Masai
• Reticulated

each group has their own natural range and recognizable coat pattern 🦒 #GiraffeFacts