AnAge entry for Giraffa camelopardalis
Classification (HAGRID: 02046)
- Taxonomy
-
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Giraffidae
Genus: Giraffa
- Species
- Giraffa camelopardalis
- Common name
- Giraffe
Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits
- Maximum longevity
- 39.5 years (captivity)
- Source
- ref. 671
- Sample size
- Large
- Data quality
- High
- Observations
There are anecdotal reports of giraffes living over 40 years. One wild born specimen was about 39.5 years when it died in captivity [0671]. Tooth wear has been suggested to have a significant deleterious impact in captivity [0827].
Female members of this species have been shown to live longer lives when they produce more offspring [1351].
Life history traits (averages)
- Female sexual maturity
- 1,278 days
- Male sexual maturity
- 1,644 days
- Gestation
- 457 days
- Weaning
- Litter size
- 1 (viviparous)
- Litters per year
- 0.5
- Inter-litter interval
- 620 days
- Weight at birth
- 58,500 g
- Weight at weaning
- Adult weight
- 800,000 g
- Postnatal growth rate
- Maximum longevity residual
- 100%
Metabolism
- Typical body temperature
- 310ºK or 37.1ºC or 98.8ºF
- Basal metabolic rate
- Not yet available
References
- [1351] Bercovitch and Berry (2017), Life expectancy, maximum longevity and lifetime reproductive success in female Thornicroft's giraffe in Zambia
- [1136] Gomes et al. (2011), Comparative biology of mammalian telomeres: hypotheses on ancestral states and the roles of telomeres in longevity determination (PubMed)
- [0827] Clauss et al. (2007), Tooth wear in captive giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis): mesowear analysis classifies free-ranging specimens as browsers but captive ones as grazers (PubMed)
- [0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
- [0610] Ernest (2003), Life history characteristics of placental non-volant mammals
- [0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
- [1035] Vogelnest and Ralph (1997), Chemical immobilisation of giraffe to facilitate short procedures (PubMed)
- [0677] Saether and Gordon (1994), The adaptive significance of reproductive strategies in ungulates (PubMed)
- [0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
- [0680] Wootton (1987), The effects of body mass, phylogeny, habitat, and trophic level on mammalian age at first reproduction
- [0436] Cutler (1979), Evolution of human longevity: a critical overview (PubMed)
External Resources
- Integrated Taxonomic Information System
- ITIS 625036
- Animal Diversity Web
- ADW account
- Encyclopaedia of Life
- Search EOL
- NCBI Taxonomy
- Taxonomy ID 9894
- Entrez
- Search all databases
- Ageing Literature
- Search Google Scholar or Search PubMed
- Images
- Google Image search
- Internet
- Search Google