Uganda: Lake Mburo National Park to welcome eight giraffes!

update (03 July 2015): The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) relocates not only 8 but 15 giraffes to Lake Mburo National Park in Uganda.

Posted by Uganda Wildlife Authority on Thursday, 2 July 2015

The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) is set to relocate four female and four male giraffes from Murchison Falls National Park to Lake Mburo National Park in Uganda. This was confirmed by UWA's spokesperson Jossy Muhanji who said this would increase the attractiveness of tourism in the park since there are no giraffes in the national parks of Western Uganda where Lake Mburo National Park, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Rwenzori Mountains National Park, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park are located.

Lake Mburo National Park is located in the Kiruhura District in Western Uganda about 240km, by road, west of Kampala. At 260km², the park is the smallest of Uganda's Savannah national parks. It is home to a variety of animals such as zebras, impala, buffaloes, and over three hundred bird species.

Lion Park near Johannesburg: Giraffe casually walks through restaurant (video)

Wildlife is unpredictable and acutally does what it wants to do and so does the giraffe in the video below. The approx. 5-meter tall female decided one day to casually walk through a restaurant tent in the Lion Park near Johannesburg, while park goers enjoy a meal and work on their laptops. The giraffe even found a snack of her choice in the restaurant... #onlyinAfrica

The Lion Park, located near Lanseria International Airport and Fourways, is a 2 km² lion wildlife conservation enclosure. It understands itself not as a game reserve or even a Zoo, but as a breeding ground and sanctuary for important species. The Lion Park is home to over 80 lions including the rare white lions and many other carnivores such as cheetah, wild dog, brown hyena, striped hyena, spotted hyena, black-backed jackal, side-striped jackal, and a wide variety of antelope which roam freely in the antelope area.

Video: Necking between two giraffes ends with a knockout!

"Necking" is pretty common way of fighting between male giraffes and is used to establish dominance. In such a fight, giraffes are usually swinging their heads at one another and the one that can hold itself more erect wins the fight. In most cases the fights are looking way more dangerous than they acutally are, but sometimes necking can also turn violent and the giraffes start to land heavy blows with their horns against their opponent.  Kudos National Geographic Wild for the video footage!

I have seen male giraffes fighting, or "necking", but I have actually never seen a giraffe getting knocked out and fall in a fight. Have you ever seen it?

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Did you know that ... the tongue of a giraffe can be as long as 45cm?

Giraffes are the tallest land animals. They are approximately 4.3m to 5.2m tall, although the tallest male recorded stood almost 6m. Their neck is in average about 1,8m long and weights close to 300kg. Despite its long neck, the giraffe has only seven vertebrae, exactly the same number as man and most other mammals.
A giraffe's legs are usually around 1.8m long. These long legs allow the animals to run as fast as 60km/hrs over short distances and  at around 15km/hrs over longer distances.

Each giraffe has a unique coat pattern.

Giraffes use their height to browse on mainly leaves in treetops that few other animals can reach. Their favorite leaves are from the acacia tree. Acacia trees have long thorns that keep most animals from eating the leaves. But those thorns don't stop the giraffes! They simply use their 45cm tongues to reach around the thorns. An adult giraffe can eat approximately 30kg of leaves and twigs daily, but can survive on just 7kg.
The average weight for an adult male giraffe is 1,200kg while the average weight for an adult female is 830kg.
Wild giraffes have a lifespan close to 13 years while those in captivity live up to 25 years. Female giraffes give birth standing up, so that their young are falling more than 1.5m to the ground at birth. These infants can stand in about half an hour and run with their mothers an incredible ten hours after birth.