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 The giraffe''s high shoulders and sloping back give the impression that its front legs are much longer than the hind legs, but they are in fact only slightly longer. The giraffe (as well as its short-necked relative the okapi from Central African forests) has a distinctive walking gait, moving both legs on one side forward at the same time. At a gallop, however, the gait changes, and the giraffe simultaneously swings the hind legs ahead of and outside the front legs, reaching speeds of 35 miles an hour. Its heavy head moves forward with each powerful southafricananimal stride, and then swings back to stay balanced. Giraffes have southafricananimal "horns" not true horns but knobs southafricananimal covered with skin southafricananimal and hair above the eyes to protect the head from blows. The reticulated giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata) of northeastern Kenya has large, chestnut-colored square patches southafricananimal defined by a network of fine white lines. Ancient cultures in Africa revered the giraffe, as some modern cultures do today, and commonly depicted it in prehistoric rock and cave paintings. Unknown outside of Africa, this animal so excited man''s curiosity that it was sometimes sent as a diplomatic gift southafricananimal to other countries; one of the earliest records tells of a giraffe going from "Melinda" southafricananimal (presumably Malindi) in Kenya to China in 1415. The animal was thought to be a cross between a camel and a leopard, a mistake immortalized in the giraffe''s scientific name of Giraffa camelopardalis. The neck is so long the giraffe must spread its front legs apart so its head can reach the ground to drink. It has unusually elastic blood vessels with a series of valves that help offset the sudden buildup of blood (and to prevent fainting) when the head is raised, lowered or swung quickly. In some areas, livestock predation remains a severe problem. The other is Grevy''s zebra, named for Jules Grevy, a president of France in the 1880s who received one from Abyssinia as a gift, and now found mostly in northern Kenya. (The third species, Equus zebra, is the mountain zebra, found in southern and southwestern Africa.) The long-legged Grevy''s zebra, the biggest of the wild equids, is taller and southafricananimal heavier than the Burchell''s, with a massive head southafricananimal and large ears. Zebras have shiny coats that dissipate over 70 percent of incoming heat, and some scientists believe the stripes help the animals withstand intense solar radiation. The black and white stripes are southafricananimal a form of camouflage called disruptive coloration that breaks up the outline of the body. Although the pattern is visible during daytime, at dawn or in the evening when their predators are most active, zebras look indistinct and may confuse some predators by distorting the true distance between them and their prey. If you are looking for african animals then look no further. You can see live feeds of african animals on your computer.
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