By TOSHIYUKI TAKEYA/ Staff Writer
September 10, 2021 at 10:00 JST
Editor's note: This is part of a series of videos offering an up-close perspective on the animal kingdom. A special 360-degree video camera system was set up in zoos and other facilities to show how the animals view their world as they interact.
Also visit our special 360-DEGREE LIVES page (http://t.asahi.com/360lives), where you can watch all the previous videos.
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There’s no mistaking Iroha, a reticulated giraffe calf at Hamura Zoo in western Tokyo.
The baby giraffe, born April 23, lives with father Tatsuki, mother Komachi and brother Genki.
At first glance, it is hard to distinguish between the two males.
Komachi is easy to spot because of her heart-shaped spots, among many irregular patterns on her neck, chest and elsewhere, both large and small.
Her daughter shares that distinction.
The reticulated giraffe, one of the four species of the tallest animal on Earth, lives in herds of several individuals in the savannas of northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia.
Males stand about 5 meters tall from their hoofs to their horns. Females are about 1 meter shorter.
The animals have a gentle disposition.
Komachi could be seen munching on acacia leaves while paying no heed to a camera set up by zoo attendant Masakazu Isobe.
Iroha paid no notice to the meal. But when the camera was removed, the baby giraffe came closer and started eating the rest of the leaves.
“She seemed to have been cautious because she felt something unusual,” Isobe said.
Giraffes have four stomachs. The first and second stomachs are filled with microbes to break down fiber from the plants they consume, while the third stomach absorbs water before the food is digested in the fourth stomach.
Giraffes developed long necks to help them adapt to eating the leaves of tall trees in savanna areas, according to one theory cited by Isobe. It has also been suggested that the animals grew larger to enable them to flee from predators in grasslands but needed a long neck to drink water on the ground.
Giraffes are known to have high blood pressure, a consequence of the heart having to pump blood up to the head via a long neck. Their blood pressure is twice that of a human (average maximum blood pressure is 260 mm Hg).
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