What is the size of the giraffes heart?
“Giraffes have this huge problem of having a head that is 2m away from the heart. So in a really big animal how does it get blood up there?” (Professor Graham Mitchell, Centre of Wildlife Studies in Onderstepoort, South Africa). The giraffe has an extremely high blood pressure (280/180 mm Hg) which is twice that found in humans. Additionally, the heart beats up to 170 times per minute double that of humans. It was previously thought that a giraffe had a really big heart, but recent research has revealed that there isn’t room in the body cavity for this. Instead, the giraffe has a relatively small heart and its power comes from a very strong beat as a result of the incredibly thick walls of the left ventricle. (Ref: image from Channel 4 “Inside Giant Animals – The Giraffe”.) Cross section of the giraffe”s heart the left ventricle showing the right ventricle showing the the very thick muscle wall much smaller muscle wall The right ventricle pumps the blood the short distance to the lung
