Some handy giraffe facts:

• The giraffe is the worlds tallest animal.
• Like human fingerprints, each giraffe's coat is unique.
• Giraffes have the largest eyes of all land animals.
• Giraffes are nonterritorial and sociable. They live in loose, open herds that often change. Babies are never left alone, but are looked after in a kind of nursery group where females help look after each other's calves.
• Giraffes rarely lay down; they even sleep and give birth standing up.
• A giraffe usually sleeps for only 1-12 minutes at a time and need only 30 minutes of sleep each day.
• Giraffes are fast and can reach speeds of up to 35 mph. They only have 2 gaits: walking and galloping. You would have to run in order to keep up with a giraffe walking because every step it takes is 15 feet long.
• The giraffe has the same number of vertebrae in its neck that most other mammals have (seven) – they’re just longer.
• The giraffe can drink 12 gallons of water in one sitting but can go for long periods without drinking at all. In fact, a giraffe can go longer without water than a camel.
• Giraffes are unable to cough and they cannot swim.
• A giraffe can clean its own ears with its tongue.
• An adult giraffe's kick is so powerful that it can decapitate a lion.
• A newborn giraffe is about 6 feet tall at birth and weighs about 150 pounds. When it's born, a baby giraffe really does drop – almost five feet – to the ground. Only 10 hours later, the baby will be running with the other giraffes. Four or five years later, the giraffe is considered an adult.
• Male giraffes sometimes spar by swinging their heads at one another. This behavior, which can entwine their necks, is called "necking."