In fact, they often lie down to sleep, with head and neck lying across the flanks, although these sleeping periods tend to be brief - one to twenty minutes. The length of the forelegs in relation to the hind has been exaggerated. It is the high dorsal spines of the shoulder which give the false impression of a difference in limb length. They have only seven vertebrae in their neck, the same number as man. Horns are bony masses covered with skin and tufts of hair and are not really horns at all.
Males have extra bone deposits on their skulls for fighting.
Giraffe are still common in East and South Africa, although their distribution in West Africa has been fragmented by poaching. The tourist trade in giraffe hair bracelets has encouraged poaching. Dagg, Anne Innis and J. Bristol Foster. Its Biology, Behavior, and Ecology. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1976.