Angels Unaware Essay Example

Angels Unaware Essay Example Angels Unaware Essay Angels Unaware Essay The beginning of March is still a bit windy not yet hot. Spring has not even hit yet so t he winters crisp air still blew well during the night. Well this particular night the wind was still but it was still cold. I was driving by myself for the first time with my mothers truck. It was pitch black. The only light was the street lights, the lights from porches that people left on, and of course my head lights . While being ribbon blind at night time I can only ride with my lights on bright. I was halfway ho me from Garlanded, Just a ten to fifteen minute drive, when I run across a man walking. Walking along Roberta Drive, a two lane road that almost everyone in Forestall, Gar dandle, Pratt, or Aggressively had traveled. Suburban area, quiet neighborhood with busy lanes. Every street that runs off of this main road had its own bus stop. No lights only stop signs. Small hills a ND lots of steep curves. Roberta Drive was busy during the early morning rush hour trying to get to w ark, busy during lunch break, and the rush hour trying to get home from work. No one walked along the is road. There was no sidewalks or even a soft shoulder. If a car was to happen to run off the road it would literally be in someone front yard. Meaning chances are if a person was to be walking and a car happens to slightly run off the road that same person would probably not make it. Homeless? Where could he be going? Should I do it? Honestly I had only owned my lice ensue for Hall 2 a week. I was driving my moms car without permission plus I could not see in the dark k. Not to mention could be another Ted Bundy and Just kill me off right then and no one would ever know w. I wanted to help him but I was so nervous because the last encounter Id had with a homeless. O en homeless that truly didnt want to be helped. Only being eleven years old I still remember that ordinary day of shopping for com on needs for our home. My mother and I went to Wall

How to Use the Word However - Proofread My Papers Academic Blog

How to Use the Word However - Proofread My Papers Academic Blog How to Use the Word â€Å"However† The adverb â€Å"however† is one that causes some confusion, so it’s important to use it correctly in your academic writing. But how is this term used? And how do you make its meaning clear in your written work? It’s all a matter of punctuation†¦ However (Whatever) This sense of â€Å"however† typically means â€Å"to whatever extent† or â€Å"in whatever manner†: I’ll catch you one day, however far you run! It’s not a formal event, so dress however you want. Note that in the examples above, there’s no punctuation between â€Å"however† and the thing it’s modifying (i.e., distance/mode of dress). Another (less common) use of this term is as a synonym for â€Å"how.† More specifically, it means â€Å"how under the circumstances,† so is typically used when referring to something challenging: However do proofreaders remember all those grammatical rules? As above, you’ll notice there is no punctuation between â€Å"however† and the rest of the sentence. However (Nevertheless) When this term is used as a conjunctive adverb to connect two contrasting points, it should be followed by a comma: I had planned to go out today. It was rainy, however, so I stayed inside. The initial results were positive. Further testing, however, is still required. Here, it is being used to contrast the latter sentence with the former. As such, we can reformulate these sentences to use â€Å"but† instead: I had planned to go out today, but it was rainy, so I stayed inside. The initial results were positive, but further testing is still required. Can I Start a Sentence with However? Since â€Å"however† can substitute for â€Å"but,† some claim it shouldn’t be used at the beginning of a sentence. Nevertheless, even if the idea that you shouldn’t use a conjunction like this were true, it wouldn’t apply in this case. Unlike the coordinating conjunction â€Å"but,† â€Å"however† is not used to link two independent clauses in a single sentence. As such, if you want to use it to contrast two points, you need to make sure they are both complete sentences. Beginning a sentence with â€Å"however† can even emphasize a contrast, since it flows more smoothly, foregrounds the comparison and ensures clarity: The initial results were positive. However, further testing is still required. But if you don’t want to use this term at the beginning of a new sentence, you can also connect two sentences with a semicolon: The initial results were positive; however, further testing is still required. However you choose to use â€Å"however,† however, make sure you punctuate correctly so that your reader will understand what you mean.

To What Extent Can the Thought of Past And Present Diplomatic Essay

To What Extent Can the Thought of Past And Present Diplomatic Practitioners Help to Inform Contemporary Diplomatic Challenges - Essay Example The goal of international diplomacy in peace keeping is maintaining power over weaker nations. It also aims at the maintenance of power balance between countries of equal status (Berridge & Keens, 2004, p78). Despite the fact that several conflict resolution theorists have come up and developed multifaceted comprehension of power, diplomacy still assert on the concept that power is a zero sum commodity, thus when a person has more, the other has less. This concept and understanding of power in the traditional society has indeed led to the encouragement of positional bargaining rather than the common cooperative and integrative approach. Positional bargaining, in the current society, is necessary as it ensures that one nation has led a lot of peace promotion methods in several nations (Moore, 2008, p143). Despite being ruled out by some critics as an inappropriate step aimed at helping two different parties reaches an agreement over a given issue, proponents argue that it is one of th e most appropriate methods of negotiation. This is because the issue of interest is to reach an agreement just like the buyer and the seller. The buyer’s interest is to acquire the product in a relatively cheap price whereas the seller’s aim is to get the maximum product from the sale of a product. That is the interest or aim of the two is simply a common price. Considering this concept, it is succinct that this concept of diplomacy will be of great use for the future diplomacy if taken seriously and professionally by diplomats. Another importance of traditional diplomacy that will be of great use in the future is its formality and protocol oriented in nature. These features were used to show the goodwill gestures during... This paper approves that current diplomatic practitioners have also shown some aspects of international solidarity. This has mainly been used to offer resolution to short term crises, for instance support of the civil society over time in certain nations like Ukraine has contributed to the finding of resolutions to problems that were short term in nature. The problems included internal and domestic actions which were mainly from different individuals expressing their desire for democratic rights in the European nation. There were boycotts, demonstrations as well as other forms of civil resistances. Inside reformers and insists usually seek for necessary inspirations from the models from other societies. They also take counsel and advice from comparable prior learning experiences by other many reformers, most of whom are recent diplomats. This report makes a conclusion that no country in the world can survive in its own. Every nation requires the service of another in order to maintain and satisfy the requirements and needs of its people. Trade is an economical pivot to every country. It brings in what the country never produces and gives out what the country produces but never uses exhaustively. In order for trade to thrive, there must be peace. Peace is brought about by international integration and understanding between the two nations. This, thus calls for the need for diplomacy. The past and the present diplomatic practitioners have mainly set examples to future practitioners as well as promised the world that peaceful integration between warring nations is underway.

Personal Identity and the Self Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Personal Identity and the Self - Essay Example In addition, the condition has been diagnosed to a significant number of patients found in psychiatric hospitals. MPD, also known as dissociative identity disorder, has many implications as to what it is to be a person at a particular time as well as over a period of time. This essay will seek to discuss these implications, with special reference to â€Å"Kim Noble: The Woman with 100 Personalities† by Amanda Mitchison. Causes dissociative identity disorder One of the key aspects of MPD is that medical professionals have not identified a specific cause of this condition. According to Psychological Theory, MPD can be traced to the trauma that was experienced during the childhood. For example, in the case of Kim Nobles, a woman with 100 personalities, the victim (Kim) experienced the unhappy marriage of her parents consequently being under the care of local acquaintances and friends. This indicates that she did not enjoy the parental love that is vital for the physical and psych ological growth of every child. In addition, Kim experienced extreme and repeated abuse (Amanda 2). As a result of this experience, she was largely traumatized and her personality was fragmented into separate identities. Just like other mental disorder, the possibility of the occurrence of MPD is high if the family has the history of the disorder. However, if a family member experiences the condition it does not imply that all other generation will suffer from MPD. According to Roxanne 28, depersonalization is also a major cause of Mental Identity Disorder. This is a condition that makes a person to have no control over a situation. Key aspects that victims experience include the view of the world as less real and lack of importance for living. Individuals who undergo severe trauma or prolonged stress have high chance of experiencing a chronic depersonalization. Additionally, individuals suffering from MPD feel like more than one person. This is based on the large number of personal ities that control them. For example, in the case of Kim, when there is a switch of personality and Patricia emerges, she does not remember what was happening in her absence. In the same way, when Patricia is asked about her sex life, she strongly declines of having any relationship but in the real sense Kim had a baby girl in 1997 (Amanda 3). Symptoms of dissociative identity disorder As mentioned earlier, a person suffering from MPD can experience large number of personalities that may range from two to hundreds. It is essential to note that half of the reported cases of MPD indicate that most of the victims possessed 10 or fewer personalities. The personalities that affect the self of a person can take their own postures. For example, they can be depicted through the change of gestures, change on the mode of talking and hairstyles as well as mode of dressing. The process through which an individual personality reveals itself and takes control of the person’s behavior is re ferred to as switching. Being triggered by the events surrounding the patients, switching can make the victim to change his or her behaviors in seconds. However, Leslie 36 argues that the changes can take hours or days. The section below discusses major symptoms that make us identify MPD among the people we are living with. One major symptom is the lapse of memory. For example, a

Violence Against Women in Muslim Families Essay Example for Free

Violence Against Women in Muslim Families Essay Nasim Basiri Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, declared in a 2006 report posted on the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) website that: Violence against women and girls is a problem of pandemic proportions. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime with the abuser usually someone known to her, (Kofi Annan 2006) One of the key issues addressed at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing was the elimination of violence against women. Violence affects the lives of millions of women worldwide, irrespective of their socio-economic status. It cuts across ethnic, cultural and religious barriers, impeding the rights of women to participate fully in the society. The urgency of addressing this global problem is tragically illustrated by the treatment of women in conflict or crisis situations, where various forms of harassment, intimidation, rape and forced pregnancies are being used as instruments of war, especially by the opposing forces or the supposed peacekeepers. The recent incident in the Darfur region of Sudan, where women were violently abused both physically and sexually and some killed, is typical. However, it is not only in times of war that women are vulnerable to abuse. Throughout the world, women suffer untold violence in the family, at work and in the wider community, while the perpetrators include individuals and the state apparatus. Women worldwide remain vulnerable to life-threatening conditions and abuse of physical and psychological integrity. Although violence against women is highly under-reported, its prevalence is high in many cultural settings both in the developed and developing countries. For instance, studies indicate that 10-58% of women have experienced physical abuse by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Furthermore, cross- sectional studies show that 40% of women inSouth Africa, 28% in Tanzania and 7% in New Zealand reported their first sexual intercourse was forced. More than half a billion of the women in the world are Muslim. They are concentrated in approximately 45 Muslim-majority countries in a broad belt from Senegal to the Philippines, with the largest number on the South Asian subcontinent. The most populous single Muslim-majority nation is Indonesia.The policing of Muslim communities in the name of gender equality is now a globally organized phenomenon and one that has become even more pronounced after the events of September 11, 2001 when the United States began its ‘War on Terror’ in response to the terrorist bombings of the World Trade Centre and Pentagon. The policing is organized under the logic that there is an irreconcilable culture clash between the West and Islam with the latter bent on the West’s destruction. (Huntington 1997) They are tribal and stuck in pre-modernity, the argument goes, possessing neither a commitment to human rights, women’s rights nor to democracy. It is the West’s obligation to defend itself from these values and to assist Muslims into modernity, by force if necessary, as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq both underline. The body of the Muslim woman, a body ï ¬ xed in the Western imaginary as conï ¬ ned, mutilated, and sometimes murdered in the name of culture, serves to reinforce the threat that the Muslim man is said to pose to the West and is used to justify the extraordinary measures of violence and surveillance required to discipline him and Muslim communities.( Jiwani) THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN ISLAM Some scholars have argued that MPL cannot be effectively recognised and implemented by the South African government because Islamic law conflicts with gender equality. Since the height of the feminist movement in the late 70s, a magnifying glass has been placed over the status of Muslim women. Unfortunately, the magnifying glass used is an unusual one. Unusual in the sense that it is highly selective about which items to magnify; other items it distorts to such a degree that they no longer look familiar (Ellison, 2004). The image of Islam is portrayed (Khalid and Tucker, 1996:9) as the: fount of unmitigated oppression of women, as the foundation of a gender system that categorically denies women equal rights and subjugates them to men, this recurs in the movies, magazines, and books of our popular culture as well as in much academic discourse. I concede that many rules, as they exist within the Muslim community, have been interpreted by males and, therefore, are patriarchal. However , it is hard to conclude that Islam itself is antipathetical to equality of the sexes. I will briefly discuss the elevated position of women in Islam. In post-apartheid South Africa, women are only now really able to have their voices heard. The issue of gender equality has become central to the development of constitutional democracy in South Africa. But what is gender? It is usually described as the way society understands the differences between men and women. This can be extended to what can be identified or recognized as masculine or feminine in a socio-cultural sense. Gender is indeed socially constructed and determined by things such as culture and religion. It is also not fixed in time and place, and is, therefore, subject to change. In Islam it is important to note that the word gender has no corresponding current term in the Arabic language, the language of the Quran. The word gender is general, and reference to men and women is made by the reference to the word sex, which is believed to be value free. The Quran bears evidence to the forgoing in its reference to the story of creation where it purposely employs gender neutral terms (Hassan, 1998). According to Seedat (2000), some of the concerns and experiences emerging from Muslim women are as follows: * Women are often merely verbally informed by their husbands of their being divorced, without any sort of written legal documents; * Imams often grant talaqs without any consultation with the wives; * Women who spend their lives cooking, cleaning and looking after the children, are often left destitute at the end of the marriage. Those who find themselves financially dependent on their husbands, are unable to secure their own economic development, and are less likely to leave an unhappy or abusive marital relationship. * Many women also find it difficult to negotiate contracts due to the stigma attached, ie that she will be branded a modern Islamic feminist filled with western ideas. CONCLUSION Domestic violence is deep-rooted in many African societies Arab societies and etc, where wife beating is considered a prerogative of menand a purely domestic matter by the society. Domestic violence is one of the greatest barriers to ending the subordination of women. Women, for fear of violence, are unable to refuse sex or negotiate safer sexual practices, thus increasing their vulnerability to HIV if their husbands are unfaithful. A more productive approach, it seems to me, is to ask how we might contribute to making the world a more just place. A world not organized around strategic military and economic demands; a place where certain kinds of forces and values that we may still consider important could have an appeal and where there is the peace necessary for discussions, debates, and transformations to occur within communities. We need to ask ourselves what kinds of world conditions we could contribute to making such that popular desires will not be overdetermined by an over whelming sense of helplessness in the face of forms of global injustice. Where we seek to be active in the affairs of distant places, can we do so in the spirit of support for those within those communities whose goals are to make womens lives better . REFERENCES ^ a b c d e Moradian, Azad. Domestic Violence against Single and Married Women in Iranian Society. Tolerancy International. September 2009. Retrieved 16 Nov. 2011. Popularly referred to as the ‘‘clash of civilizations’’, the phrase and the argument can be found in Huntington (1997) For critique and examination of its widespread inï ¬â€šuence and appeal, see Said (2001). For a discussion of how the culture clash thesis inï ¬â€šuences feminists see Razack (unpublished). For a discussion of how the Muslim woman’s body has been represented in the press post 911 see Jiwani (forthcoming). Abdo, Nahla, and Ronit Lentin, eds. Women and the Politics of Military Confrontation:Palestinian and Israeli Gendered Narratives of Dislocation. New York: Berghahn Books, 2002. Abdullah, Ustaz Yoonus. Sharia in Africa. Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria: Shebiotimo Publications, 1998. Abou El Fadl, Khaled. Speaking in God’s Name: Islamic Law, Authority and Women. Oxford: Oneworld Press 2001. Abu Lughod, Lila. â€Å"Introduction: Feminist Longing and Postcolonial Conditions.† In Lila Abu Lughod, ed., Remaking Women: Feminism and Modernity in the Middle East. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998. Abu Lughod, Lila, ed. Remaking Women: Feminism and Modernity in the Middle East. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998. Abusharaf, Rogaia Mustafa. â€Å"Revisiting Feminist Discourses on Infibulation: Responses from Sudanese Feminists.† In Bettina Shell-Duncan and Yvla Hernlund, eds., Female â€Å"Circumcision† in Africa: Culture, Controversy and Change. Boulder: Lynne Reiner, 2000. Fadel M (1999) Two Women, One Man: Knowledge, Power and Gender in Medieval Sunni Legal Thought, in International journal of Middle East Studies. Hassan SO (1998) Gender and Islamic Law, Some general observations on the Status of Women under Islamic law, paper delivered at Gender and Law workshop, World Bank. Hughes TP (1886) Marriage in Dictionary of Islam (1886), see also http:// muslim- canada. org/marriaged iction . United Nations. The Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action, Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, China. UNDoc.DPI/1766/ Wom.1 12-113. New York: United Nations, 1996. De Bruyn M. Violence related to pregnancy and abortion: a violation of human rights. Sex Health Exch 2002; 3:14-15. Heise LL, Raikes A, Watts CH and Zwi AB. Violence against women: a neglected public health issue in less developed countries. Soc SciMed 1994; 39(9): 1165-79. Molloy J. Ending war against women. CRLP sponsors workshop on violence against wom en in situations of armed conflict duringBeijing + 5 Regional Conference. ReprodFreedom News 2000; 9(3): 2. Schreck Laurel. Turning point: a special report on the refugee reproductive health field. InterFam Plann Persp 2000; 26(4): 162-166. Girard F and Waldman W. Ensuring the reproductive rights of refugees and internally displaced persons: legal and policy issues. Inter Fam Plann Persp 2000; 26(4): 167-173. Nordstrom C. Catitas war. Development 2001; 44(3): 30-5. Refugees International. Visual mission: violence against women in Darfur, October 2004. http:// www.urefugeesinternational.org/content/report/ detail/4329/ . Rath DG,Jarratt LG and Leonardson G. Rates of domestic violence against adult women by men partners. JAm BdFam Prac 1989; 2:227-233. Odimegwu Clifford O. Couple formation and domestic violence among the Tiv of Benue State,Nigeria. Paper presented at the International Colloquium Gender, Population and Develop- ment in Africa organised by UAPS, INED, ENSEA, IFORD, Abid jan 16-21 July 2001. Foster LA. South African experiences in fighting domestic violence. Sex Health Exch 2002; 3: 3-4. Brinkerhoff MB, Grandin E and Lupri E. Religious involvement and spousal violence: the Canadian case. JSci StudyRel 1992; 31(1): 15-31. Heise L, et al. Ending violence against women. Pop Reports Series L, No. 11. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, Population Information Program, December 1999.

Analysis of Heaneys Mid-Term Break Essay -- Heaney Mid-Term Break Poe

Reading a story or poem about death is usually sad and overtly predictable.   However, Seamus Heaney inverts this mundane typicality to deliver a poem shrouded in mystery.   The main aspects of Heaney's poem   Mid-Term Break   are the plot development and how the diction sets the somber tone that slowly reveals the mystery.   Ã‚  Ã‚   One technique Heaney uses is diction, which aids in plot development.   In the first stanza he uses words that draw out the stanza and make it seem to last a long time.   In the first line the use of the word   all   drags out the line.   The sense of time is apparent in this first stanza.   The second line,   Counting bells knelling classes to a close,   uses words that describe him listening and counting the bells that signal when class is out.   This use of description emphasizes or supports the preceding line;   I sat all morning in the college sick bay.  Ã‚   Finally the reader is given a time,   At two o clock our neighbors drove me home.  Ã‚   The fact that the neighbors drove him home makes the reader question why that is the case.   Up to this point the reader is not aware that a death in the family is the reason the boy is coming home.   It could be that the boy himself is sick.   In the second stanza the boy is home and sees his father crying.  Ã‚   The reader now knows that someone died, but who is still a mystery.   The use of dashes at the end of the first two lines of the second stanza aids in lengthening the stanza similarly to the first stanza but in a more somber way.   The pause after his father is crying gives the reader a taste of what is happening.   Then the dash after   funerals in his stride,   gives a pause to really bring about a somber tone.   The last line of the third stanza,   And Big Jim Evans saying it was... ...box.   The plot is almost fully revealed but there is still the final line,   A four foot box, a foot for every year.  Ã‚   All the mysteries are revealed with this last line.   The shocking last line when the reader finds out that the boy s four-year-old brother was killed.   The reader also finds out in the next to last line that a car hit him.  Ã‚  Ã‚   The structure Heaney uses in this poem is what makes the poem intriguing.   If he stated in the first stanza that the boy s little brother had died and he was leaving school to go see him the poem would be just another poem about death.   Heaney slowly reveals the situation through his gradual plot development.   The tone and the plot development lead to the shocking final line,   a four foot box, a foot for every year.   It is not until the final line that the reader knows that the deceased is the narrator s four-year-old brother. Analysis of Heaney's Mid-Term Break Essay -- Heaney Mid-Term Break Poe Reading a story or poem about death is usually sad and overtly predictable.   However, Seamus Heaney inverts this mundane typicality to deliver a poem shrouded in mystery.   The main aspects of Heaney's poem   Mid-Term Break   are the plot development and how the diction sets the somber tone that slowly reveals the mystery.   Ã‚  Ã‚   One technique Heaney uses is diction, which aids in plot development.   In the first stanza he uses words that draw out the stanza and make it seem to last a long time.   In the first line the use of the word   all   drags out the line.   The sense of time is apparent in this first stanza.   The second line,   Counting bells knelling classes to a close,   uses words that describe him listening and counting the bells that signal when class is out.   This use of description emphasizes or supports the preceding line;   I sat all morning in the college sick bay.  Ã‚   Finally the reader is given a time,   At two o clock our neighbors drove me home.  Ã‚   The fact that the neighbors drove him home makes the reader question why that is the case.   Up to this point the reader is not aware that a death in the family is the reason the boy is coming home.   It could be that the boy himself is sick.   In the second stanza the boy is home and sees his father crying.  Ã‚   The reader now knows that someone died, but who is still a mystery.   The use of dashes at the end of the first two lines of the second stanza aids in lengthening the stanza similarly to the first stanza but in a more somber way.   The pause after his father is crying gives the reader a taste of what is happening.   Then the dash after   funerals in his stride,   gives a pause to really bring about a somber tone.   The last line of the third stanza,   And Big Jim Evans saying it was... ...box.   The plot is almost fully revealed but there is still the final line,   A four foot box, a foot for every year.  Ã‚   All the mysteries are revealed with this last line.   The shocking last line when the reader finds out that the boy s four-year-old brother was killed.   The reader also finds out in the next to last line that a car hit him.  Ã‚  Ã‚   The structure Heaney uses in this poem is what makes the poem intriguing.   If he stated in the first stanza that the boy s little brother had died and he was leaving school to go see him the poem would be just another poem about death.   Heaney slowly reveals the situation through his gradual plot development.   The tone and the plot development lead to the shocking final line,   a four foot box, a foot for every year.   It is not until the final line that the reader knows that the deceased is the narrator s four-year-old brother.

Outline for Speech on Giraffes Essay

Specific Purpose: To inform students everything they ever needed to know about giraffes. Central Idea: Giraffes are one of the most interesting mammals out there and there are many reasons why including their anatomy and appearance, their behavior and lifestyle, and their distribution and habitat. Introduction Attention Material: Ever since I was a little girl, I have gone to the buffalo zoo every summer. I have always been completely and utterly mesmerized by the huge animals to the right of the zoo entrance. Every time I go, still to this day, it takes a lot to persuade me to leave that exhibit. There is something so magical about these giant creatures. Something extremely intriguing. The way that they stand so tall, and present themselves so calmly. It’s almost calming just to be around this animal. Reveal the Topic: This animal I am talking about is the giraffe. Credibility: I have done extensive research on these animals over the past few weeks and I have always had a passion for them. Preview the Body: Today I will tell you how interesting the anatomy and appearance of the giraffe, their lifestyle, and their habitat can be. Body Let’s start with the anatomy and appearance of the giraffe. The giraffe’s outside appearance is what makes this animal so recognizable. There is no other animal like it. a. Everyone recognizes the giraffe by its coat. Each giraffe has whiteish yellow skin with brownish or reddish markings that cover the entire body except for their lower legs. Each giraffe has unique markings that are unique to that individual and to their species of giraffe. Just like there are no two snowflakes that are the same, there are no two giraffes that are the same. These spots vary in size, shape, color, and amount of white that is around them. b. Giraffes have the greatest range of vision of any land animal, this is partly due to how tall they are. c. Their height is used to their advantage. Worlds tallest mammal! They grow to about 20 feet tall. That would be like taking four of me and stacking them on top of each other! The proportion of their body is 9 feet long for their neck and head, 5 feet for their torso, and 6 feet for their legs! They use their height and their 21 inch black tongue to reach the highest of branches. The giraffes anatomy is very unique as well. a. Would you believe me if I said that a giraffes neck has the same number of vertebrae that you do? Well we both have 7 vertebrae. The giraffe just has longer and larger vertebrae! b. Giraffes also have incredible weight to carry around. Their heart weighs 25 lbs, and their neck weighs 550 lbs alone. Giraffes weigh on average anywhere from 1500 to 4250 lbs. c. Female giraffes have a gestation period of 15 months. When they give birth, they have to do it standing up and the baby will fall 5 to 6 feet to the ground. It can stand within 30 minutes, and within a half of day it will run across the savannah with its mother. The second thing that makes giraffes so interesting is its lifestyle. The giraffes behavior and lifestyle are kind of grouped together. a. The giraffes large size means it must spend most of its time eating. On average, a giraffe consumes 77 lbs of food a day. They are herbivores and live on leaves from up to 60 different species of plants and trees but the most common tree for them to eat from is the Acacia tree. The giraffe first catches a branch in its mouth. It then pulls back its head to get a mouthful of leaves. They feed anywhere from 16 to 20 hours a day. b. The giraffe gets 70% of their water intake from their food so they have to drink very little. To drink they have to spread their legs and bend over just to get their head close enough to the ground to drink. This puts them in a vulnerable position to their biggest threats the lion and the crocodile. These animals can drink 12 gallons of water in 1 sitting. They only need to drink water every couple days though. They can go longer than camels can without water! c. Giraffe are most active in the early morning and late afternoon but also feed at night in bright moonlight. However, unlike many of Africa’s wild animals that â€Å"disappear† under shady trees during the heat of the day, the giraffe continues browsing and because of their size, they can be spotted throughout daylight hours. They just try to stay out of the heat of the day. d. They get 30 minutes of sleep each day. They only sleep for about 5 minutes at a time as well. e. There is a myth that says Giraffe are usually silent. This is not true, they bellow, grunt or snort when alarmed, as well as when confronted by lions, and can also moo in distress. f. Giraffes have a peaceful nature. This is seen when males fight. The winner never chases the loser. When the fight is over, the two males rub muzzles. They then rest together. They rarely fight, But when they do fight, it is something unlike any other. They fight by â€Å"necking†. They swing their necks into eachother repeatedly until one decides to walk away. It is violent but no one usually gets hurt. g. They are capable of running at a speed of nearly 35 miles per hour over short distances and are one of the few mammals that walk by pacing which is by simultaneously carrying both feet on the left side forward and then simultaneously moving both feet on the right side forward. The final thing about giraffes is their habitat. The giraffes habitat is unique to them. a. Giraffes are social animals, and they live in open herds and travel in packs of 5 or 6. When there are a lot of leaves on the trees the giraffes scatter around to enjoy it. However, once winter approaches and food begins to become scarce, they congregate and live together to collectively look for food. b. Previously found even in North Africa, today the remaining Giraffe populations are restricted to parts of sub-Saharan Africa with the largest concentrations being found in National Parks. Giraffes inhabit open woodlands and savannah where using their height they are able to see for great distances around them to watch out for approaching danger. c. Despite being the tallest land animal in the world, the Giraffe is actually preyed upon by a number of large carnivores that co-inhabit the dry savannah. Lions are the primarily predators of the Giraffe that use the strength of the whole pride to catch their victim. Giraffes rely on the vast open plains so that they can have the best view possible of their surroundings but if a predator does get too close, Giraffes kick their attacker with their large, heavy feet to defend themselves. d. In their natural habitat, they will live for about 15 years, but in a zoo they will live much longer than that. Conclusion In conclusion, Giraffes are one of the most interesting mammals out there and there are many reasons why, including their anatomy and appearance, their lifestyle, and their habitat. The next time you get the chance to go to the Buffalo Zoo, take time to stop and watch the giraffes because I guarantee you will be mesmerized just like me.