Fun fact : The question " Do Giraffa camelopardalis get hit by lightning more than other animals ? ” is one of the most care post ever deal on Reddit . While the idea that the world ’s marvelous animate being may work as a lightning retinal rod is not raw , and it ’s certainly known that Giraffa camelopardalis have beenkilled by lightning , scientists have only now discover the circumstances in item for the first clock time .
Conservation scientist Ciska Scheijen , who has been examine giraffes at theRockwood Conservationin South Africa for the last year , has trace two causa of what seems to be last by lightning in a new newspaper publisher published in theAfrican Journal of Ecology . Though Scheijen manoeuvre out these are just observation because she was in the right place at the correct meter , she hopes it will inspire further research into the effects of lightning on giraffe decease .
On February 29 this year , Rockwood experienced a weighty but brief electric storm , with lightning and labored rain . The day before , the Mungo Park ’s herd of eight camelopard had been seen together . The day of the storm foreclose observations , but on March 1 only six were view , something Scheijen says is unusual for this ruck . The next day they found two of the herd – a 5 - year - old female person and a younger female – numb , a few meter apart .
Because they were found not far from where they were observed the day before the storm , it was potential they give way during the storm . But on closemouthed review , they found a large distinctive fracture in the skull of the older Giraffa camelopardalis , where the right ossicone – the horn - similar knobs on top of giraffes ’ heads – reach out to the skull . This suggest a lineal lightning strike .
oddly , they cover no scorch scratch on the carcase , a sign see in other animals that have suffer a verbatim strike . Scheijen and Rockwood ranger Frans Moleko Kaweng did report a potent smell of ammonia and were surprised the carcass had n’t been scavenge despite lying there for a day and a half . However , this does in fact check a previous2014 studythat showed a delay in post - mortem scavenging of five days after a giraffe had been struck by light , as well as a smell of ammonium hydroxide . In that study , the heel of a local farm refuse to go near the carcase , so the look likely kept scavengers off .
There are four ways lighting can kill an fauna : direct strike , side fanfare ( near an physical object that is hit by lightning ) , step electric potential ( a firing of inflammation in the background ) , and touch voltage ( when part of the body get contact with a stricken object while also still touching the ground ) .
Scheijen suspects that because the giraffes were not near any grandiloquent tree , the ossicones of the oldest , and therefore marvellous at more than 2 meters ( 6.5 feet ) marvellous , distaff was the highest level of middleman for lightning in the domain and was hit directly . The new female person found 7 meters ( 23 pes ) aside was likely the victim of side flash or step potential difference .
" I would not say the ossicones per se act as a lightning gat , but the towering meridian of the giraffe could , " Scheijen tell IFLScience . " If they are the highest dot in the vicinity , then chance may be high that they are the ones at greatest risk in the area to get strike by lightning . "
While giraffes ’ stature take a crap them especially vulnerable to burning by lightning , it ’s not clear if they have adapt to avoid this . Previous as - yet - unpublished observations by Scheijen bank note that giraffes walk more or less 13 per centum short space during rain compare to when it ’s juiceless , suggest that giraffes do adjust their deportment in response to the atmospheric condition . The fact giraffes are not found more often kill by lightning could be because they know to shelter under tumid Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , but there is no clear evidence of that yet .
