South African Giraffes Fighting (Giraffa camelopardalis giraffa)

            Londolozi Game Reserve
South Africa
Near Kruger National Park

Male giraffes fighting for dominance.

Male giraffes use their necks as weapons in combat, a behavior known as "necking". Necking is used to establish dominance and males that win necking bouts have greater reproductive success. This behavior occurs at low or high intensity. In low intensity necking, the combatants rub and lean against each other. 

The male that can hold itself more erect wins the bout. In high intensity necking, the combatants will spread their front legs and swing their necks at each other, attempting to land blows with their ossicones. The contestants will try to dodge each other's blows and then get ready to counter. The power of a blow depends on the weight of the skull and the arc of the swing.

A necking duel can last more than half an hour, depending on how well matched the combatants are. Although most fights do not lead to serious injury, there have been records of broken jaws, broken necks, and even deaths. 

After a duel, it is common for two male giraffes to caress and court each other, leading up to mounting and climax. Such interactions between males have been found to be more frequent than heterosexual coupling. In one study, up to 94 percent of observed mounting incidents took place between males. The proportion of same-sex activities varied from 30–75 percent. – Wikipedia

Taken in: South Africa / Mpumalanga / Bushbuckridge / Inyati (show map)

Taken on: September 26, 2015

Tags:

SouthAfrica2015

Londolozi Game Reserve

South African Giraffes

Giraffa camelopardalis giraffa

Male

Necking

Dominant

Breeding Rights

Female Giraffes

Sue Roehl

Pentax K7

COTH

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Sets appears in: • South Africa, Sept/Oct 2015 Part 2

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