Giraffes
Chole Brooke Raines
On the 6th day of creation. God created giraffes. Giraffes are the
tallest animals on earth and were once known as “cameleopards” by the
Romans because they were as tall as camels and spotted like leopards.
In the 1800’s a giraffe was brought to the zoo in Paris and later the
spotted pattern of its coat became popular in womens fashion.
Giraffes may look long and gangly with their 6 foot neck and long
legs, but they are actually very graceful on the African plains were
they live. As is evident with the giraffe, God was very imaginative
when creating animals. The giraffes long neck is useful for eating
treetop leaves, and also for spotting predators before they are close
enough to really be a threat. Surprisingly, giraffes have only 7
vertebrae in their neck the same number that humans have.
God designed giraffes to have very powerful heart and lungs to
accommodate their long neck, The giraffes heart can weight up to 25
pounds and when it pumps. It practically shoots the blood up the
neck. In fact, the heart of a giraffe pumps so hard that when the
giraffe bends down to get a drink, he could suffer severe brain injury
if the giraffe did not have a sponge that intercepted the blood on its
way to the brain and then lets the blood out slowly for the brain.
Also, giraffes must take very deep breaths to accommodate their long
necks.
Male giraffes can weigh up to 3,000 pounds and stand up the 18 feet
tall; making then the tallest animals in the world. In the wild their
favorite food is acacia leaves and they can eat up to 75 pounds of
leaves a day. Interestingly, giraffes are not very dependent on water
since the acacia leaves that they eat contain most of the water that
they need.
God made giraffes with special tongues. The blue-black color helps to
protect their tongues from sunburn, as it gets a lot of sun exposure
from eating the leaves of trees. Also, God have given the giraffe
tough lips and tongue so they will not get hurt from the thorny acacia
trees.
An old African story that tells why the giraffe cannot speak says that
the giraffe asked the Great Creator for wisdom so was given the gift
to be silent and observing so all the animals would see his wisdom.
Interestingly, all people groups have shared stories of a common
creator untill the story of creation had been wildly exected until
Charles Darwin, the story of creation had been widely accepted.
Unfortunately, many people have strayed from their creator, the
creator of all things, Giraffes are a good example where we can
clearly see God’s design.
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