Current Events Lesson Plan: September 15-21, 2016
Current Event: A Giraffe by Any Other Name
Scientists recently discovered that instead of just one species of giraffe, there may be four. After studying skin biopsies from 190 giraffes from all around Africa, a group of scientists have suggested that giraffe species are as different from one another as polar bears are from grizzly bears. Each individual giraffe has its own distinct coat pattern. According to the scientists, these patterns are the easiest way to tell the species apart. The scientists believe rivers and other physical barriers may have separated giraffe populations long enough for the distinct species to develop. Two of the newly identified species are critically endangered. One such species, the northern giraffe, has a total population of fewer than 5,000 individuals. Many of these giraffes live in unstable areas in central Africa. Other African mammals such as the elephant, lion, and rhinoceros have been studied extensively, but the giraffe has been largely overlooked. More than 2 million giraffes lived in Africa just 150 years ago. They have rapidly declined since then, however, particularly over the last 15 to 30 years. They now number only about 90,000 individuals.
Objective:
Giraffes are the tallest of all animals. Male giraffes may grow more than 18 feet (5.5 meters) tall—5 feet (1.5 meters) taller than the African elephant, the second tallest animal. The giraffe gets its great height from its legs, which are 6 feet (1.8 meters) long, and a neck that may be even longer. But even though giraffes tower over other animals, most adult males weigh only about 2,600 pounds (1,200 kilograms). A male African elephant may weigh more than five times as much. Giraffes live in Africa south of the Sahara in open woodlands. They feed on the leaves, twigs, and fruit of trees and bushes. A giraffe, like a cow, chews a cud, which is food that has entered the stomach but is returned to the mouth for a second chewing. Lions are the only animals that attack adult giraffes. A lion may kill a giraffe if it catches the victim lying down or if it springs onto the giraffe’s back from ambush. Giraffes defend themselves by kicking with their feet. Their kicks are sometimes powerful enough to kill a lion. Young giraffes may be killed by lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, and crocodiles. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore giraffes and other animals.
Words to know:
Discussion Topics:
1. Ask your students to name other animals native to Africa besides giraffes. (Students might say cheetahs, chimpanzees, elephants, gorillas, hippopotamuses, lions, ostriches, rhinoceroses, and zebras.)
2. In 46 B.C., Julius Caesar brought to Rome the first giraffe ever seen in Europe. Name some people who were alive at the time and could have visited Caesar’s giraffe. (Students might name Mark Antony, Augustus, Marcus Brutus, Cleopatra, Herod the Great, Horace, Livy, Virgil.)
3. Giraffes are popular animals at many zoos. Ask your students to debate “Animals should not be kept in captivity.”