This Giraffe Calf Can’t Control Its Neck Movement While It Struggles To Stay Awake

Baby giraffes, called calves, are born after a long and arduous 15-month gestation. This video by @youronlysourceofseratonin shows a newborn calf struggling to keep its eyes open and it’s neck upright. A young giraffe’s neck often flops around as it learns to use its muscles, but it eventually finds the strength it needs to hold its head up.

Baby Giraffes Are Born With Tall Necks

When a giraffe calf is born, it’s about six feet tall. Female giraffes stand up during birth, so their calves come out headfirst. This prevents injury to their offspring’s neck, which is several feet long at birth. Depending on gender, a giraffe may stay with its mother for 15 to 18 months. Females remain with their mothers the longest before they become part of the herd. During this time, calves must learn to walk, eat, and use their incredibly long necks. They grow twice their size within their first year but are quick learners.

How They Learn to Control Neck Movement

Over the course of a year, giraffes quickly learn how to work the muscles in their necks. They become efficient foragers, getting practice extending their necks to reach high foliage. Part of the reason for such a long neck is to reach foods that sustain their diets. This consists of anything from fruit to flowers, and they can reach a variety of vegetation that others can’t.

Giraffes also learn how to use their necks by observing other herd members. The more they watch, the more they pick up on feeding, observation, and fighting behaviors. Calves replicate these motions until the behavior becomes instinctual. This doesn’t take long when they use height from their necks to scan their surroundings for predators. Scanning the landscape is one of the first things a giraffe learns as part of their survival.

A Long Neck Is Good for Fighting

As docile as giraffes might seem, fights can, and do, break out in herds. The longer and stronger a giraffe’s neck, the better the advantage they have during a fight. These fights are called “necking” and are especially common amongst males or bulls. Giraffes aim for another herd member’s head, throat, or underbelly, which sometimes results in injury if neither one submits.

Necking happens for several reasons, but mainly due to dominance. This display of strength reinforces the hierarchy of the herd. Sometimes, it’s a way to settle disputes between two males. The quicker a male calf learns to use its neck, the easier time it will have when and if it faces this challenge.