For over 200 years, there has been just one species of giraffe, Giraffa camelopardalis. This unmistakable African animal is easily recognized across the world. With their long necks and distinctive ...

But this extreme feature comes at a cost: namely the energy required for the heart to pump blood up to the head against gravity. As a result, giraffes have high blood pressure, more than twice that of ...

Giraffes are just as astonishing on the inside as they are to look at. Standing up to 19 feet tall, they require enormously high blood pressure to pump blood up to the head, yet they suffer few, if ...

In humans, chronic high blood pressure forces the heart to work too hard. The muscle of the left ventricle thickens in defense, a condition called hypertrophy. Eventually, this leads to fibrosis, ...

Giraffes are iconic for their incredibly long necks, which are not only a standout physical feature but also a marvel of evolutionary adaptation. These necks can measure up to six feet long, making ...

Giraffes are known for their towering necks, but the enormous circulatory demands caused by this height present a classic evolutionary puzzle. Researchers from South Africa and Australia found giraffe ...

The giraffe’s gut microbiome is made up of a variety of bacteria and fungi, and is largely determined by the giraffe’s species – not by what they eat. A group of wild reticulated giraffes (Giraffa ...

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Jason Pootoolal, president of Save the Giraffes, about using in vitro fertilization for wild giraffes to save the species from extinction. Giraffes might be facing ...

We're used to thinking of giraffes as one species. Turns out, there are actually four distinct species of the world's tallest mammal. We're used to thinking of giraffes as one species. Turns out there ...