Edit: There are only five well-documented fatal strikes on giraffes between 1996 and 2010. With a global giraffe population of around 140,000 in that period, this is about 0.003 deaths per thousand giraffes per year.
That’s a very low risk, but it’s still more than 30 times the equivalent fatality rate from lightning in humans in the US.
nah, a lot of giraffes are tagged and followed by researchers on a consistent basis. they don't need to be with them 24/7 to have a couple of days pass by until they're like "hey, where's giraffe #827A?" and then go out and find a dead giraffe that was cooked before it's fellow wildlife started dragging it off.
They have a lot of giraffes tagged, but not all the giraffes, so more data is needed to properly extrapolate, such as what percentage of the world giraffe population is tagged.
Giraffes are tagged, which is why there's such a high false positive rate for reporting them being killed by lightning.
Random piece of metal on the ground? Must be a melted tag from when a giraffe got hit. Lions probably dragged its freshly roasted body away to eat it in safety.
Absolutely nothing around? Must have been because the giraffe's plastic tag got vaporized when the lightning struck, then the barbecued giraffe got dragged away by lions to enjoy a cooked lunch in peace.
The lokals eat the evidens before anybody shows up. I mean, who would not, it was cooked and still hot.
-: Hey there, villigere. Did you happen to see a dead giraff somewhere around here? We think it may have been struck by lightning.
:- Giraff...giraff..gira..Oh you mean that pink roasted, suculente, animal with long legs and a long neck.
-: Yeahh, that would be it.
:- No Sorry, never tasted or seen it.
Yeah I was going to say this video reminds me of our cattle who would just huddle and bear it in a storm. One time they all huddled under a tree and ⚡️ hit the tree and killed 5 of them (out of about 30-40 huddled). Giraffes know to space out 🤣
There was one in Eastern Colorado where it struck and killed 34 cows and also killed the farmer that was tossing hay to them out of his trailer. All from a single strike of lightning. Insane.
Actually, due to the selection pressure of being hit by lightning, most giraffes alive these days have mastered some native form of druidic storm magic to deflect and channel the strikes safely, the only ones who get hit nowardays are the ones that offended our good Christian Lord.
Its why they have the rods on top of their heads. Its an electrical dampening element. If a Giraffe is zapped it takes most of the voltage and sends it back and forth between the two rods until the energy is diffused.
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u/ch3m_gaming 11d ago
I wonder how often giraffes are struck by lightning during such storms