Giraffe

Key Stage 1

A Giraffe is a mammal with a very long neck and brown spots that comes from Africa.

Giraffes are very tall.

Giraffes are hunted by lions.

Giraffes eat leaves on trees.

A giraffe has a long tongue.

A Giraffe is a mammal that has the adaptations of a long neck and brown spots for camouflage.

The giraffe is the prey of the lion.

Giraffes are a consumer because they eat other organisms.


Millions of years ago all Giraffes had short necks. Variation meant some Giraffes were a little bit taller than others. Those Giraffes could get to the higher leaves in trees. This meant they could eat more. The shorter Giraffes couldn't get enough food and died. So the taller Giraffes survived and their offspring inherited their slightly longer necks.	After a few generations all the giraffes had slightly longer necks, but because of variation some had even longer necks still. This meant they they were more likely to get food, survive and have children than the shorter giraffes. So their offspring inherited these even longer necks.

This process of evolution repeated again and again.	Millions of years later, after many generations, eventually all the Giraffe had very long necks.