Scientific commentary
How a Growing Giraffe’s Eyes Turn Towards the Front
A taller viewpoint is only one way a giraffe’s visual world changes during growth.
Giraffe research, explained.Page 20
The questions, fieldwork and discoveries behind giraffe science. Each story explains an original study, what it found and what remains uncertain.
Research stories
172–179 of 179 stories
Scientific commentary
Does a Giraffe’s Long, Thin Shape Help It Lose Heat?
Counting square metres of skin answers only part of a question about staying cool.
Scientific commentary
A Giraffe’s Pulse Hidden in an Ordinary Video
The animal was filmed drinking. A later analysis found a rhythm that the original viewer could not easily see.
Scientific commentary
What Lion Scars Reveal About Giraffe Skin Disease
A scar records an encounter the animal lived through. That makes it valuable evidence—and an incomplete account of danger.
Scientific commentary
Why Zakouma's Giraffes Range Beyond the Park in Wet Months
Rain can make a landscape greener while making familiar feeding grounds harder to reach. A park boundary stays in the same place.
Scientific commentary
What Makes a Giraffe Hesitate Around Something New?
Putting an unfamiliar object beside familiar food helped researchers separate the attraction of a meal from hesitation about its surroundings.
Scientific commentary
Two DNA Histories Changed the Map of Southern Giraffes
A genetic record passed down through mothers and a genome inherited from both parents can preserve different parts of a population’s past.
Scientific commentary
Giraffe Skull Shapes Reveal More Than Size and Sex
A growing skull changes its proportions. Researchers had to account for that before asking whether different giraffe species also have different heads.