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Giraffes are Way More Complicated Than We Thought

2023-09-08 · list · Hank · 6:33 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Science & nature (also: Nerdfighteria) · mode: Curiosity & trivia · tags: community lore

Ending what he calls the channel's longest giraffe drought, Hank lists what science has learned about giraffes since 2016 (several species, nighttime humming, culture and post-reproductive grandmothers, a heart-protecting gene, herders as possible allies of wildlife) and stresses that people went out and got this knowledge.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — The channel's giraffe history from the 2007 thumbnail and the seven-year giraffe drought

  • ★★ Hank recalls that in 2007, when YouTube picked the exact middle frame as thumbnail, he deliberately held up a giraffe picture from a book at the midpoint, and the video got many views. — 00:00:00 · YouTube
  • ★★ After giraffe videos in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2016, Hank says more than seven years without a giraffe video is the channel's longest giraffe drought. (playful) — 00:00:29

00:00:58 — New giraffe facts: how many species, nighttime humming, culture and the grandmother hypothesis

  • ★ To prepare, Hank emailed with a giraffe scientist currently researching giraffes in Tanzania. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ Hank says we still don't know how many giraffe species there are, and in a way can't, because species is a human idea rather than something nature does. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ Hank says giraffes range from just south of the Sahara to South Africa: New York and London are closer together, and John is closer to Brazil than West African giraffes are to South African ones. — 00:01:27 · New York City, London
  • ★★★ Hank says whole-genome analyses showed giraffes should probably not be considered one species; there might be three, four, five or six. (hedged) — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ Hank says the species question matters: counted as one species there are hundreds of thousands of giraffes, but split into four species some are very endangered. — 00:01:56
  • ★★★ Hank says giraffes were long thought barely to vocalize (some thought their necks too long), but recently we learned they hum, often at night, at a very low pitch barely audible to humans. — 00:02:26
  • ★★ Hank says the humming is part of how giraffes communicate and maintain their culture. — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ Hank says female giraffes live long after they can no longer breed: about 30% of a female giraffe's lifespan comes after she can have babies. — 00:02:55
  • ★★ Hank says post-reproductive females are rare: humans, killer whales, some other whales (pilot whales, he thinks), arguably elephants, and now giraffes. — 00:02:55
  • ★★★ Hank explains the grandmother hypothesis: post-reproductive females occur in species where passing knowledge from older to younger generations is really important. — 00:03:24

00:03:53 — Giraffe blood pressure and a heart-protecting gene tested in mice

  • ★★ Hank concludes giraffes are much more social and cultural, with much more knowledge, than we thought. — 00:03:53
  • ★★ Hank says giraffes have very high blood pressure to move their blood, high enough that it would damage a human heart. — 00:03:53

00:04:22 — Giraffe conservation and research on herders and savanna wildlife

  • ★★★ Hank says researchers put a giraffe gene linked to heart resilience into mice; given high blood pressure, mice with the gene had much less heart scarring. — 00:04:22
  • ★★★ Hank says that as giraffes prove more social, split into several species, and lose habitat and population fast, their conservation becomes even more important. — 00:04:52
  • ★★ Hank says herders and wildlife were long imagined as opposed, which is partly true and complicated, but people have herded in sub-Saharan Africa for many millennia. — 00:04:52
  • ★★ Hank says recent research also looks at ways herding people might be good for the savanna and its wildlife. (hedged) — 00:05:21
  • ★★ Hank says that compared with farming, mining or charcoal production, herding has much less impact on the savanna and its wildlife. — 00:05:21
  • ★★★ Hank says that done right, protecting traditional land uses can also be good for wildlife, though the two were thought strictly opposed. — 00:05:21

00:05:50 — Savannas of Our Birth and the point that people went out and got this knowledge; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank recommends Robin Reid's book Savannas of Our Birth, which he is reading: not a clickbait cover, but really good and fascinating. — 00:05:50
  • ★★★ Hank says the thing to remember about all this information is that people went out and got it. — 00:05:50
  • ★ Hank notes much of the book is notes and references, showing how many people work on this research. — 00:05:50
  • ★★ Citing the giraffe scientist, Hank says we often miss what giraffes do because they act so slowly, but we can learn it if we watch and listen, especially to their near-subsonic hums. — 00:06:19

In the description and comments

  • ★ In a channel comment answering praise of his outfit, Hank says he paired his new beard with teddy-bear denim. — creator comment

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: giraffe

Also: Works: Savannas of Our Birth

Organizations: YouTube

Concepts: agriculture · categorization · elephant · grandmother hypothesis · habitat destruction · hypertension · killer whale · mouse · pastoralism · pilot whale · wildlife conservation

Places: Brazil · London · New York City · Sahara · South Africa · Sub-Saharan Africa · Tanzania · West Africa

Only in the description or credits: Robin Reid

Also centred on giraffe: People Who Love Giraffes Who Love Giraffes (The Song) · Giraffe Love and Other Questions ANSWERED · Giraffe Sex: A Terrifying Introduction to Nature at Work (and Play) · How Giraffes Mate, and Why It Matters

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