Hi Steemit family!

today I bring them a mammal of those that when you see them you will say, what? It is possible that at the beginning I confuse this animal with a giraffe but in reality it is not related, I am talking about a gazelle called by the African natives "Gerenuk" that means giraffe neck, because of its similarity. Come with me to discover this strange animal.

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The gerenuk inhabits mainly the great savannas of Africa especially in Somalia, it is possible that when I tell you that it is a gazelle do not believe it, because the design is very similar to a giraffe that to the classic gazelles of which although there are several sub species this one does not resemble at all.

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This artiodactyl mammal loves the desert areas that border the savannah or rather the savannah in the dry season becomes a real desert, although they are native to Somalia in this country have almost disappeared by poaching, but you can see them in nature reserves that have created in kenya where they have among the great diversity to the gerenuk.

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If you see one in person will surprise you the length that is his neck, in addition he has a very narrow and small head that contrast with the enormous eyes accompanied with enormous ears, they present something dimorphism being the females in smaller proportion that the bulky males that are higher, heavier and have enormous horns.

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The color of his coat has a dark brown, in some areas of his body as the ribs are a lighter color, and at the bottom are yellowish or white, short tail that looks like a lock of dark hair.
As far as their feeding we have that they are 100% herbivorous, they dedicate almost all the time of their life to eat branches of trees especially if they are tender, sprouts, leaves and some that other fruit, due to their neck it is not so difficult to find food in the trees, almost always they resort to the technique to rise on their hind legs to arrive at a but high and thus to be able to eat leaves of trees of medium size.

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In just one year the females manage to reach sexual maturity, the males reach barely half a year later even up to 2 years, this is always common when the female reaches sexual maturity first always comes a little later, it is believed that this is due to a natural mechanism that allows population control.

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After mating the female remains in gestation for about seven months, the females leave the herd to give birth to then integrate back into the herd, usually spend much of the day cleaning the baby to prevent predators smell the newborn, the males are the only ones who leave the order to go to another.

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It is indispensable that we say another interesting feature of these mammals, living in an extremely hot climate is vital to be hydrated, and as they have no lakes or rivers nearby and no matter how close they were would be useless because in the dry season there is no water in any of these, so ingeniously the gerenuk extracts the water it needs from the waters, this luxury can only be given by animals that can reach the middle of the trees such as giraffes, elephants, monkeys, and in this case the gerenuk that thanks to its elongated neck makes it easy to choose the best sprouts to eat leaves that give it enough water to survive.

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Thank you for reading

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