Giraffes are the tallest land animals. A giraffe could look into a second-story window without even having to stand on its tiptoes! A giraffe's 6-foot (1.8-meter) neck weighs about 600 pounds (272 kilograms). The legs of a giraffe are also 6 feet (1.8 meters) long. The back legs look shorter than the front legs, but they are about the same length. A giraffe's heart is 2 feet (0.6 meters) long and its lungs can hold 12 gallons (55 liters) of air!

It takes a lot of leaves to fuel such a large animal. A giraffe may eat up to 75 pounds (34 kilograms) of food per day. Giraffes spend most of their day eating because they get just a few leaves in each bite. Their favorite leaves are from the acacia tree. Acacia trees have long thorns that keep most animals from eating the leaves. But those thorns don't stop the giraffes! They simply use their 18-inch (46-centimeter) tongues to reach around the thorns. It is thought that the dark color of their tongues protect them from getting sunburned while reaching for leaves on trees. They also have thick, sticky saliva that coats any thorns they might swallow.