The reason behind the giraffe’s long neck has been quite unclear until now. Still, the more curious thing to know about giraffe how exactly they maintain this neck and get the blood to a head that is about two meters away from their heart.
Giraffe’s long neck
It has been revealed in research that giraffe’s heart is different from other mammals. It is because of their long necks that this mammal possesses a powerful and small supercharged heart. Even though there are not many animals that have a very long neck, but giraffes have an amusing long neck. But have you wondered ‘why’ and ‘how’ is this possible?
Prof Mitchell has come forward to answer the first question. According to him, the long neck helps the animal to feed on different browsers. This also makes them more vigilant and thermoregulate its body. But he was bitten by the curiosity bug when he tried to find more about the reason behind the long neck. After a bit more research, he was able to find about how giraffes maintain a long neck and are also capable of overcoming any physiological constrains.
The blood circulation
Giraffe’s long neck is 2m away from the heart. Something we’ve all been curious about is the way their bodies maintain the blood circulation. In the case of most mammals, the blood pressure is low because the movement of blood is for a very short distance, which is between head and heart. But in the case of the giraffe, the range is quite significant. Earlier it was mentioned in studies that giraffe has exceptionally high blood pressure, which is twice found in other animals. It was thought that the reason for high blood pressure was definitely because of a big heart. But this wasn’t true as according to some latest research, giraffes possess a small heart than you would expect in similar-sized animals but it has very thick walls. As they are adapted to high blood pressure due to their long neck, they don’t suffer physiological problems. It is the giraffe’s heart that is evolved to have thick muscle walls with a small radius. This helps the heart to be strong as the thick walls of blood vessels also thicken with age. It happens when the giraffe’s neck starts to grow longer to avoid rupture under increasing pressure.
Working of blood vessels
Giraffes have a different mechanism that helps them to deal with high blood pressure. It all depends on the capacity of the cardiovascular system, which is very efficient in pumping the blood. It is as per the data collected from the body dimensions of the dead giraffes, which reveals their body to be extraordinary.
It would also be super-exciting to find out a living giraffe is freely doing it. It could also be more exciting for those who like to study blood pressure, be it humans or animals. We hope this article has helped you to understand a bit about the mystery behind giraffe’s long neck and how it can stabilize its body.
