Camelopard

A baby giraffe resting at the Prague Zoo. CZ Rep. (08)

Some giraffe trivia:

The scientific name given to the Giraffe, camelopardalis, comes from the early description of the animal as looking like a combination of a camel and a leopard. In the 1300s, the Giraffe was called camelopard, and remained known as this until the 1800s.

The giraffe has one of the shortest sleep requirements of any mammal, which is between 10 minutes and two hours in a 24-hour period, averaging 1.9 hours per day.

There is a true incident in which 49 giraffes were slaughtered in the Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia) in 1975 following the suspected outbreak of disease amongst the group.

Homosexual relationships occur with about 50% of all male giraffes, while only 1% of female giraffes engage in same sex relations.