Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis)

South Africa - Africa, giraffe necking. impossible to pass unnoticed when we are more than 17 feet in height! A size which makes of the giraffe the highest ground mammal and the heaviest ruminant of the globe. This peaceful herbivore, which feeds essentially on leaves of locust trees, frequents the semidesert regions and the dry savannas of Africa. Rather gregarious, females, youngs and immature males animals on average join in groups of 5. Males, them, navigate from a troop to the other one to verify the state of heat of females. These give birth to a single young, all 20 in 23 months on average, after a gestation of 475 days. Hunted for its meat, the skin and its hair, the giraffe is threatened by the deforestation and the destruction of its environment. In strong decline in the west of the continent, its population remains stable in the East and in the South. All in all, between 110 000 and 150 000 animals. (Photo by Gilles MARTIN/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)