Giraffes Don't Sink
What would happen if you pushed a giraffe into a deep swimming pool? Would the amazing creature with the long neck drown, or would it just relax and do some lane swimming?
Sink or swim?
It seems like an irrelevant question, and it probably is, but no one is able to answer it conclusively. No one has ever seen a giraffe swim. And no one ever dared to push a giraffe into a swimming pool, for practical and ethical reasons. So we don't know; biologists can only guess.
Digital giraffe
Most mammals are good swimmers, but you can't just extrapolate that to giraffes. Due to their unusual shape – a short body, long legs and a long neck – the view of biologists is that presumably giraffes would sink like a stone.
"Presumably" is such a disappointing start to an answer. That’s why mathematicians Donald Henderson of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Canada and Darren Naish of the University of Portsmouth got involved to help the biologists. They developed a digital version of a giraffe and threw it into an equally digital pool. The bright sparks behind this computer model based it on the weight, mass, lung capacity and centre of gravity of a real giraffe.
Clumsy swimmers
They concluded that there is no reason to believe the giraffes would sink. They should even be able to swim, although it would all look a bit clumsy. The animals are not helped by their shape. Their long front legs pull the body downwards, so a giraffe in a pool would have to keep its neck horizontal and just below the surface of the water. To allow it to breathe, the giraffe would then have to lift up its head at an uncomfortable angle to keep its nostrils out of the water.
So in theory, giraffes can swim, but in reality, not many of them are going to be reaching for their Speedos.
This blog previously appeared in the book "Giraffes don't sink" (Houtekiet Publishers). In it, Kim Verhaeghe, editor at Eos Science magazine, compiled 138 amazing insights from science. Guaranteed to be a fun read!
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