Page 20 - Atlas Of The World's Strangest Animals

20 ATLAS OF THE WORLD’S STRANGEST ANIMALS

Take one look at a giraffe, and it’s easy to see why the brush-ended tail, for instance, could well belong to a
Romans named them ‘camel leopards’.Their heads and warthog (Phacochoerus africanus).The long tongue seems to
long legs do have a camel-like shape, while their spotted be more appropriate for a reptile, like a chameleon, than a
coat is reminiscent of that worn by the leopard (Panthera mammal. Indeed, it’s so long that they use their tongues to
pardus). However,Arab peoples had an even more wipe off any bugs that land on their face.Add to this mix
appropriate name – ziraafa, meaning ‘assemblage of a set of cloven hooves (like pigs), a pair of stubby horns
animals’, which is exactly what they look like! The short, and that enormously long neck, and these animals really

For a giraffe, being born can be a traumatic experience. Babies As the birth sac breaks open, the young giraffe tumbles, head-
emerge head first and fall to earth with a thud! first, up to 2m (6.6ft) to the ground!

Undaunted, the newborn looks around,while his mother gets Despite his dramatic entrance into the world, he is quickly on
busy cleaning him up with her long, mobile tongue. his feet and ready to take his first shaky steps.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.