In 2017 , asurprisingly popular Reddit postasked the scientist of the site a simple question : Do Giraffa camelopardalis get struck by lightning more often than other animals ?
Well , not only are there a number of reports out there of giraffes being kill by lightning , there are also type written report which suggest the tall animals can play likelightning pole during a electric storm .
The good news program for giraffes is that they generally do n’t chance many storms . In fact , there are only five well - document event of giraffes being pour down by lightning between 1996 and 2010 , including one incident of a Giraffa camelopardalis being struck in front ofDisney World visitors in 2003.According to zoologist Luis Villazon , this is about 0.003 deaths per thousand giraffes per year . The regretful news show is that this is more than 30 sentence the fatality rate for man in the US , where thunderstorms are more common .
In 2020 , a composition on two fatality in giraffes at the Rockwood Conservation in South Africa recover that one of the animals had belike been struck straight off in the skull by lightning .
" Given that lightning bolts tend to remove tall object , specially in open areas , the height of giraffes may make them especially vulnerable to fatal burning , " Rockwood Conservation scientist Ciska Scheijenwrote in the African Journal of Ecology
" However , they may have behavioral adaption to cut back chances of mortality from lightning , for model seeking shelter during a thunderstorm or moving promptly to thick vegetate area . "
Scheijen supply that observations , peculiarly in this case , have not confirmed camelopard will seek shelter during thunderstorms .
alas , giraffe are at another disadvantage to mankind when it derive to storms , in that they have four leg . fauna with four legs are more vulnerable to ground current , as the push broadcast along the ground after a rap .
" Lightning live up one leg and down another . Animals are more vulnerable because their legs are circularise out more , so the ground stream travel more easily in their bodies . It does n’t count if they ’re touching , or on the button how close they are , it matters that they were all in the arena reach by lightning , " National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lightning expert John Jenseniustold The Verge .
" Ground currents are the thing that ’s responsible for the most lightning decease and injuries in both people and animals . "
Ground lightning can cause large numeral of last in brute , be it 550 sheep that werecaught in a storm in Georgia in 2021 , or323 Greenland caribou belt down in Norway in 2016 . Giraffes just encounter to also be vulnerable to lineal lightning strikes as well .
