Giraffe's hearts produce very high pressure to force the blood all the way up to their brains. Why don't their brains explode when they lower their heads to drink?
Great job everyone! The system that the giraffe uses, called a rete mirable, is a truly amazing system. It is a cluster of arteries and veins very close to each other, that can divert some of the blood flow under the right circumstances. In the giraffe, it serves to equalize blood pressure when the animal lowers its head, serving as a kind of natural pressure relief system.
The same rete mirable system can also be found in many other animals. In dogs, it protects their brains when their body overheats by diverting some of the overheated blood back to the body.
Penguins have rete mirable systems that reduce blood flow to their feet, wings, and nasal passages, to reduce heat loss when they are swimming in icy water.
Some whales and other diving mammals have rete mirable to adjust their blood pressure during deep dives.
Fish use the same system to mix arterial and venous blood, causing it to give up dissolved gases to fill their air bladder, helping keep them just at the point where they don't float or sink.
giraffes head explode Jada from Mrs. Bottini
Hi Mr.Krampt my name is Jada i need to ask you a couple of questions how long are giraffes ears? how much do they drink? how much can they eat? how much do baby giraffes weigh?
Thank you for help Jada
Hi Jada
Adult giraffes have ears that are about 8 inches long.
They can eat 140 pounds of food a day. They can go for a long time without drinking, but drink a LOT when they do drink. I could not find a figure for how much though.
Baby giraffes weigh about 100 - 150 pounds.
giraffe head explode
hi Mr.Krampt i am jada i need to ask you a couple of questions how much can a giraffe drink? Also how long is the neck of the giraffe? How much do you think they can eat? how long do you think there ears are?
Thank you for the help Jada
Bill Bartmann
Excellent site, keep up the good work
Carina from Miss Webber's Class
Dear,Mr.Krampf
I'm sorry i'm posting toaday well i love the picture i think the animals are used to haveing their necks down or the blood runs slowley thru thier long neck it's hard to go fast.
thanks for all the wounnderful pictures thanks!!!!!
Your Admirer
Carina
!!!!!!!
Why doesn't the giraffe's head explode?
Mr. Krampf,
The giraffe's head does not explode because when the head is bent, the circulation is somewhat cut off. Therefore, his head does not get as much blood pumped to it, and it does not explode.
Can you please tell us what makes rain smell? We heard a giraffe's tail is as long as it's tongue. Is this true? Also, how long do giraffe's typically live?
Thanks for your help,
Mrs. Bottini and Mrs. Dunn's Classes
To Mrs. Bottini and Mrs. Dunn's classes
Great questions! Actually it is not the rain that smells. Instead, the increased moisture in the air just before it rains lets your nose smell things that it usually does not. Notice that when you "smell rain coming" it smells a lot like wet dirt. That is because the dust in the air collects enough moisture from the air to let you smell it.
While giraffes have long tongues (up to 21 inches), they have the longest tail of any mammal, up to 8 feet long!
They can live to be up to 20 years old.
Giraffe's blood pressure
Abbie says "because there are lots of valves to keep it from all flowing down when they lower their heads. Like our stomachs--we can swallow food even when upside down."
From JW and Grace in Georgia
The giraffe has a sponge under its brain that soaks up the last little bit of blood that was saved from one of the veins in its neck as the little 'doors' closed off the blood supply to the brain (protecting the giraffe from an exploded head). As the giraffe lifts its head the sponge under its brain will squeeze the blood into its system again to keep the giraffe from fainting and the little 'doors' open back up.
Morgan from Ms.Webber's Class
The giraffe's brains won't explode maybe because there's something that stops the presure from flowing to it.Or the giraffe's have a thick scool that can olnly aloud as much presser in that it needed.
Is it true that when its lightning and thundering inbetween lighting and lightning it meens how many miles it is far away? I see the moon in the day some times why is that?I thought it olnly came out a night.
Your admirer
Morgan
Hi Morgan
To find out how far away the lightning is, count the seconds in between the flash and the boom. Sound travels a mile in 5 seconds, so every 5 seconds equals one mile. An easy way to do that is to count "Mississippi"s. When you see the lightning flash, start counting: one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, four Mississippi, five Mississippi. If you hold up a finger for each Mississippi, when you fill up a hand, that is one mile.
Because the Moon is going around the Earth, and the Earth is spinning, the time that the Moon rises and sets will change from day to day. Each day the Moon will rise about 30 minutes later than it did the day before, so half the time, it will be out in the daytime. Because the Sun is so much brighter, often we don't notice it during the day.
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