Giraffes also eat flowers, vines and herbs. 15-20 hours a day is spent foraging consuming up to 140 lbs of vegetation per day. They are ruminants with a 4-chambered stomach, regurgitating and chewing a cud similar to cows. Giraffe tongues are pink or black. Giraffes consume many thorns and seem to prefer this food.
Giraffes drink water if it is available but can go weeks without it.
They also obtain water from the dew on the leaves they eat and the water contained in their food. A giraffe can consume up to 12 gallons of water at one time when drinking from a water hole. The giraffe is a very quiet animal and seldom has been heard to vocalize, although it does, hence it was thought that the giraffe was a voiceless animal. In deep sleep they bend their neck backwards over their torso, placing their chins on the ground and resting their necks on their outstretched leg. Giraffes seldom sit on the ground as it is too awkward to rise and flee from predators.