00:00 Giraffes have been taken for granted and referred to as "camel leopards" by humans for many millennia.

05:02 Giraffes have been referred to as "camel leopards" by humans, but Charles Darwin suggested that their long necks evolved as an advantage for reaching leaves on trees during times of drought or famine.

10:25 A 2016 study found that there are actually four different species of giraffes, contradicting previous beliefs that they were all variations of the same species.

15:52 Giraffes have long necks and long legs, with each vertebra of their neck being about 11 inches in length, and their legs and neck both measuring about six feet long, and they are known as gentle giants.

20:53 Giraffes have a thick-walled heart that can pump blood at a high pressure, and their tough coat acts like a compression sock to help counteract the effects of gravity on their long necks and legs.

25:54 Giraffes live in semi-arid savannas with open woodlands, have large eyes with excellent vision, and their main predators are lions and crocodiles.

31:24 Giraffes move in a unique way, gliding rather than galloping, and their leg movements are also peculiar; they are highly social animals that live in loose groups called towers, where members can come and go as they please and there are no territorial boundaries; giraffes sleep very little, only about five to 30 minutes a day, and they are one of the quietest mammals in nature, but they do make sounds, including potentially communicating at subsonic frequencies that humans cannot hear.

36:30 Giraffes communicate through snorts and other sounds, and they have a symbiotic relationship with tick birds that warn them of danger.

41:18 Giraffes can walk within an hour of being born because they are vulnerable to predators and have a high mortality rate in their first year, but if they survive, they have a better chance of living longer; baby giraffes are left alone by their mothers for extended periods of time, but this is because the mothers are out looking for food, and the calves are expected to lay quietly until their mothers return; giraffes are herbivores and mainly eat leaves, seeds, fruits, and branches, with their prehensile tongue and lips allowing them to eat from thorny trees without getting stuck; they eat hundreds of pounds of leaves a week.

46:15 Giraffes have a very efficient internal system and can survive on as little as 15 pounds of foliage per day, they are ruminants and chew cud, they can go weeks without drinking water and get most of their moisture from the plants they eat, they play an integral role in their ecosystems by reaching places other animals can't and distributing seeds, they are not endangered but their population has declined by 40% in the past 15 years due to poaching and habitat loss.

51:10 The hosts thank various listeners for sending them gifts and shout out other podcasts, authors, and individuals who have sent them items or invited them to events.