UC Davis researchers travel to Africa to study mystery of giraffe mating behaviors
SACRAMENTO — It's a primal urge for most animals, but for the male giraffe, finding out the right time to approach a mate has been mired in mystery, until now.
See, the female giraffe shows no outward signs that she's "in heat." So a team from UC Davis traveled to Africa to see first-hand and discover the delicate details behind the sex lives of these magical, massive and mysterious creatures.
Giraffes are some of the most majestic animals to observe, whether it's at the zoo or in the wild.
"So many people love giraffes and there isn't that much known about them," said Lynette Hart, a professor of veterinary medicine at UC Davis.
Now, UC Davis professors Lynette and Benjamin Hart are the authors of new research revealing some surprising details.
"We were seeing specific examples of unusual behavior that they showed," Lynette said.
And this is no tall tale.
The couple has been married for 40 years and studied giraffe behavior in the African country of Namibia, documenting behavior never before seen by researchers in the wild. There is a deeper meaning to this detailed research.
The UC Davis team said the more the public understands the intricacies of giraffe behavior, the more interest there will be in protecting them.
"We watched them very carefully," Benjamin said. "You have to use a spotting scope actually to see."
One new discovery is that male giraffes can actually voice a loud warning sound.
"We actually heard that kind of bellowing growl call," Lynette said. "That was stunning because giraffes had thought to be mute for a while."
But the most surprising observation is the unusual ritual a bull giraffe goes through to find a suitable female mate.
"[A male] goes up to [a female] and he kind of bumps their rear end and maybe sniffs them a bit, and he's saying, 'It's time for you to urinate so I can test your urine,' " Lynette said.
The male has special receptors in his mouth that can sense when the time is right.
"So he's got to be testing these females all the time," Lynette said.
Males perform a kind of pre-pregnancy pee test to find the right match.
"He's asking, 'Is she going to be coming into heat soon?' And he'll be able to detect that from analyzing that urine," Lynette said.
With fewer than 100,000 left in the wild, they say this type of research is important to help preserve and protect the vulnerable species, which suffers from poaching and loss of habitat.
"Before humans came along, they were doing just fine, so we have to kind of control our own species," Benjamin said.
"The numbers are going down," Lynette said.