Botswana – Watching

An adult giraffe keeps an eye on a young one as it feeds on the leaves of an acacia tree. A giraffe’s extra-thick saliva gets its antiseptic properties from the acacia leaves that they eat. Its tongue also has a thick, tough layer that protects it from being cut by the super sharp thorns (from personal experience, ouch) of the acacia tree, while its antiseptic saliva thoroughly coats the thorns so they come out of the digestive system pretty intact. The saliva helps it to heal quickly too should it be cut by the thorns or anything else. So if you have a cut, you can try getting a giraffe to lick on your wound – if you can ever get close enough to one in the wild :)