Editing Giraffe (section)

===Social life===
[[File:Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) females.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Photograph of a gathering of four female giraffes|Gathering of female South African giraffes in [[Tswalu Kalahari Reserve]], South Africa. These animals commonly gather in herds.]]
Giraffes usually form groups that vary in size and composition according to ecological, anthropogenic, temporal, and social factors.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last1=Bond|first1=M. L.|last2=Lee|first2=Derek E. |last3=Ozgul |first3=A. |last4=König |first4=B. |date=2019 |title=Fission–fusion dynamics of a megaherbivore are driven by ecological, anthropogenic, temporal, and social factors |journal=[[Oecologia]] |volume=191 |issue=2|pages=335–347 |doi=10.1007/s00442-019-04485-y |pmid=31451928 |bibcode=2019Oecol.191..335B|s2cid=201732871 |url=https://scholarsphere.psu.edu/resources/80d99e21-8a05-4eaf-bb4e-ba8bcddd109d |access-date=22 August 2023|archive-date=22 September 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230922074125/https://scholarsphere.psu.edu/resources/80d99e21-8a05-4eaf-bb4e-ba8bcddd109d}}</ref> Traditionally, the composition of these groups had been described as open and ever-changing.<ref name="Manyara">{{Cite journal |author=van der Jeugd, H. P. |author2=Prins, H. H. T. |title=Movements and group structure of giraffe (''Giraffa camelopardalis'') in Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania |journal=[[Journal of Zoology]] |volume=251 |issue=1 |pages=15–21 |year=2000 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.2000.tb00588.x |url=http://www.resource-ecology.org/publ/2000_Jeugd,Prins_MovementsAndGroupStructureOfGiraffeInLakeManyara.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106025238/http://www.resource-ecology.org/publ/2000_Jeugd,Prins_MovementsAndGroupStructureOfGiraffeInLakeManyara.pdf |archive-date=6 November 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> For research purposes, a "group" has been defined as "a collection of individuals that are less than a kilometre apart and moving in the same general direction".<ref name="Pratt 1985">{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/00222938500770471 |author1=Pratt, D. M. |author2=Anderson, V. H. |year=1985 |title=Giraffe social behavior |journal=[[Journal of Natural History]] |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=771–781|bibcode=1985JNatH..19..771P }}</ref> More recent studies have found that giraffes have long-lasting social groups or cliques based on kinship, sex or other factors, and these groups regularly associate with other groups in larger communities or sub-communities within a [[fission–fusion society]].<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal|last1=Bond|first1=M. L.|last2=König|first2=B. |last3=Lee |first3=D. E. |last4=Ozgul |first4=A. |last5=Farine |first5=D. R. |title=Proximity to humans affects local social structure in a giraffe metapopulation |journal=[[Journal of Animal Ecology]] |year=2020 |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=212–221|doi=10.1111/1365-2656.13247 |pmid=32515083 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Bercovitch 2013">{{cite journal|author1=Bercovitch, F. B. |author2=Berry, P. S. M. |year=2013|title=Herd composition, kinship and fission–fusion social dynamics among wild giraffe |journal=[[African Journal of Ecology]] |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=206–216 |doi=10.1111/aje.12024 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2013AfJEc..51..206B }}</ref><ref name=Carter>{{cite journal|author1=Carter, K. D. |author2=Seddon, J. M. |author3=Frèreb, C. H. |author4=Carter, J. K. |year=2013|title=Fission–fusion dynamics in wild giraffes may be driven by kinship, spatial overlap and individual social preferences |journal=[[Animal Behaviour (journal)|Animal Behaviour]]|volume=85|issue=2|pages=385–394 |doi=10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.11.011 |s2cid=53176817}}</ref><ref name=VanderWaal>{{cite journal|author1=VanderWaal, K. L. |author2=Wang, H. |author3=McCowan, B. |author4=Fushing, H. |author5=Isbell, L. A. |year=2014|title=Multilevel social organization and space use in reticulated giraffe (''Giraffa camelopardalis'') |journal=[[Behavioral Ecology (journal)|Behavioral Ecology]] |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=17–26 |doi=10.1093/beheco/art061|doi-access=}}</ref> Proximity to humans can disrupt social arrangements.<ref name=":7" /> Masai giraffes in Tanzania sort themselves into different subpopulations of 60–90 adult females with overlapping ranges, each of which differ in reproductive rates and calf mortality.<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last1=Bond |first1=M. L. |last2=König |first2=B. |last3=Ozgul |first3=A. |last4=Farine |first4=D. R. |last5=Lee |first5=D. E. |title=Socially defined subpopulations reveal demographic variation in a Giraffe metapopulation |journal=[[The Journal of Wildlife Management]] |year=2021 |volume=85 |issue=5 |pages=920–931 |doi=10.1002/jwmg.22044 |bibcode=2021JWMan..85..920B |s2cid=233600744 |url=http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:352-2-127dcuwx9z4bj0 |access-date=27 January 2024 |archive-date=8 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308221559/https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jwmg.22044 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Biological dispersal|Dispersal]] is male biased, and can include spatial and/or social dispersal.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bond |first1=M. L. |last2=Lee |first2=D. E. |last3=Ozgul |first3=A. |last4=Farine |first4=D. R. |last5=König |first5=B. |date=2021 |title=Leaving by staying: Social dispersal in giraffes |journal=Journal of Animal Ecology |volume=90 |issue=12 |pages=2755–2766 |doi=10.1111/1365-2656.13582  |pmc=9291750|bibcode=2021JAnEc..90.2755B }}</ref> Adult female subpopulations are connected by males into super communities of around 300 animals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lavista Ferres |first1=J. M. |last2=Lee |first2=D. E. |last3=Nasir |first3=Md. |last4=Chen |first4=Y.-C. |last5=Bijral |first5=A. S. |last6=Bercovitch |first6=F. B. |last7=Bond |first7=M. L. |date=2021 |title=Social connectedness and movements among communities of giraffes vary by sex and age class |journal=Animal Behaviour |volume=180 |pages=315–328 |s2cid=237949827 |doi=10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.08.008|url=https://scholarsphere.psu.edu/resources/4e92c3e0-e2f6-47b6-8a25-d5c78210af75 }}</ref>

{{listen |filename=Giraffe Hum.oga |title=Giraffe hum |description=Giraffe hum, [[ogg]]/[[Vorbis]] format. |format=Vorbis |filename2=Giraffe snort.oga |title2=Giraffe snort |description2=Giraffe snort ogg/Vorbis format. |format2=Vorbis |filename3=Giraffe grunt.oga |title3=Giraffe grunt |description3=Giraffe grunt ogg/Vorbis format. |format3=Vorbis |filename4= Giraffe bursts.oga |title4=Giraffe bursts |description4=Giraffe bursts ogg/Vorbis format |format4=Vorbis}}
The number of giraffes in a group can range from one up to 66 individuals.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=VanderWaal/> Giraffe groups tend to be sex-segregated<ref name=VanderWaal/> although mixed-sex groups made of adult females and young males also occur.<ref name="Pratt 1985" /> Female groups may be [[matrilineally]] related.<ref name=VanderWaal/> Generally, females are more selective than males when deciding which individuals of the same sex they associate with.<ref name=Carter/> Particularly stable giraffe groups are those made of mothers and their young,<ref name="Pratt 1985" /> which can last weeks or months.<ref name="Leuthold 1979" /> Young males also form groups and will engage in playfights. However, as they get older, males become more solitary but may also associate in pairs or with female groups.<ref name=VanderWaal/><ref name="Leuthold 1979" /> Giraffes are not [[Territory (animal)|territorial]],<ref name="Dagg1971" /> but they have [[home range]]s that vary according to rainfall and proximity to human settlements.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Knüsel |first1=M. |last2=Lee |first2=D. |last3=König |first3=B. |last4=Bond |first4=M. |date=2019 |title=Correlates of home range sizes of giraffes, ''Giraffa camelopardalis'' |doi=10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.01.017 |journal=[[Animal Behaviour (journal)|Animal Behaviour]] |volume=149 |pages=143–151 |s2cid=72332291 |url=https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/171320/2/ZORA_Knuesel_et_al_2019_Correlates_of_home_range_size_of_giraffes.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200210212658/https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/171320/2/ZORA_Knuesel_et_al_2019_Correlates_of_home_range_size_of_giraffes.pdf |archive-date=10 February 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> Male giraffes occasionally roam far from areas that they normally frequent.<ref name=Kingdon1988/>{{rp|329}}

Early biologists suggested giraffes were mute and unable to create enough air flow to vibrate their [[vocal fold]]s.<ref name=Kasozi/> This has been proved to the contrary; they have been recorded to [[Animal communication|communicate]] using snorts, sneezes, coughs, snores, hisses, bursts, moans, grunts, growls and flute-like sounds.<ref name=estes/><ref name=Kasozi>{{cite journal|last1=Kasozi|first1=H.|last2=Montgomery|first2=R. A. |year=2018|title=How do giraffes locate one another? A review of visual, auditory, and olfactory communication among giraffes |journal=Journal of Zoology |volume=306|issue=3|pages=139–146|doi=10.1111/jzo.12604|doi-access=free}}</ref> During courtship, males emit loud coughs. Females call their young by bellowing. Calves will emit bleats, mooing and mewing sounds.<ref name=estes/> Snorting and hissing is associated with vigilance.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Volodina|first1=Elena V.|last2=Volodin|first2=Ilya A.|last3=Chelysheva|first3=Elena V.|last4=Frey|first4=Roland|year=2018|title=Hiss and snort call types of wild-living giraffes ''Giraffa camelopardalis'': acoustic structure and context|journal=[[BMC Research Notes]]|volume=11|issue=12|page=12|doi=10.1186/s13104-017-3103-x|pmid=29316966|pmc=5761111 |doi-access=free}}</ref> During nighttime, giraffes appear to [[humming|hum]] to each other.<ref name="hum">{{cite journal|author1=Baotic, A. |author2=Sicks, F. |author3=Stoeger, A. S. |year=2015|title=Nocturnal "humming" vocalizations: adding a piece to the puzzle of giraffe vocal communication |journal=BMC Research Notes |volume=8 |page=425 |doi=10.1186/s13104-015-1394-3 |pmc=4565008 |pmid=26353836 |doi-access=free}}</ref> There is some evidence that giraffes use [[Helmholtz resonance]] to create [[infrasound]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Von Muggenthaler|first1=E. |year=2013|title=Giraffe Helmholtz resonance |journal=Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics |volume=19|issue=1|page=010012|doi=10.1121/1.4800658|doi-access=free}}</ref> They also communicate with body language. [[Dominance hierarchy|Dominant]] males display to other males with an erect posture; holding the chin and head up while walking stiffly and displaying their side. The less dominant show submissiveness by dropping the head and ears, lowering the chin and fleeing.<ref name=estes/>