How Does a Giraffe Drink Without Passing Out?
Imagine having to drink upside down!
A giraffe drinking has to be the most ungainly sight in the animal kingdom. Aside from the weird pose, there is a lot happening under the surface for these lanky mammals when they drink. Some of it still remains a mystery, but scientists have figured out that evolution has equipped the giraffe with some surprising tools to give them helping hand.
Remember hanging upside down on the ‘monkey bars’ as a child and the blood rushing to your head? Now, imagine being 17 feet tall with a 25-pound heart — lowering your head would make it feel like it was going to explode!
This presents a problem for the giraffe — a drinking problem.
Basics of anatomy
The giraffe’s drinking problem, and the solution, is all explained by understanding some basic cardiovascular anatomy.
Like humans, giraffes have a pump (heart) and pipes (arteries, veins and capillaries) that circulate blood around the body. Together the pump and pipes are known as the cardiovascular system.
Our pump is located at our core with the pipes fanning out from there. Within this system we have a special set of pipes that send blood to the brain and then circulate it back to the heart. The…
