🇹🇿Tanzania·National Animal
🦒Maasai Giraffe
The tallest land animal — and one of the most threatened.
Tanzania declared the Maasai giraffe its national animal — it's illegal to hunt one without presidential permission. Tanzania has the largest population in the world, with most living in the Serengeti and surrounding protected areas. The species is classified as Endangered.
Why this animal?
The Maasai giraffe is the largest giraffe subspecies and is most associated with the Tanzanian savanna — including Mount Kilimanjaro and Ngorongoro Crater. It's central to wildlife tourism and to Maasai cultural symbolism.
Things to know
- ·Maasai giraffes have jagged, leaf-like spots — distinct from the cleaner-edged spots of other subspecies.
- ·A giraffe's heart weighs 11 kg and pumps blood with twice the pressure of a human's to reach its brain.
- ·Their tongues are blue-black, up to 50 cm long, and tough enough to strip thorny acacia leaves.
- ·Giraffes only sleep about 30 minutes per day — usually in 5-minute naps while standing.
- ·Wild giraffe populations have dropped by 30% in 30 years, mostly from habitat loss — a 'silent extinction' compared to elephants and rhinos.