The diet of giraffes is mainly herbivorous and is based on the ingestion of leaves, branches, fruits and flowers from trees and shrubs.
Due to their large size and height, they feed on trees and shrubs that have higher leaves and branches than most animals. Their long tongue and movable lips allow them to select and grasp tree leaves and pull them to chew them.
Giraffes can eat more than 34 kilograms of food per day and can survive in environments with very dry, low-nutrient vegetation.
However, despite their ability to obtain nutrients from the leaves and twigs they eat, giraffes may have difficulty obtaining sufficient calcium from their diet.
The leaves and twigs they eat are rich in fiber and carbohydrates, but have low levels of minerals, such as calcium, which are important for bone health and other biological processes.
Because of this, giraffes sometimes need to obtain minerals from other sources, such as chewing bones of dead animals they find in the wild, wood chips, as well as mineral salts in the soil and water sources.
Bone chewing can also provide additional benefits for giraffes, such as helping to keep their teeth clean and sharp and improving their digestion by better crushing and breaking down food in their stomach.
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