Treetops, a restaurant with a view

Giraffe feed on leaves of trees and shrubs. When flowers and fruits are available, or climbers and vines find their way through the branches, opportunities arise for broadening the balance of their diet and indulging extraordinary tastes.

The branch tips and young leaves of the various thorn tree species that used to be acacias, now either vachellias (spherical flowers) or senegalias (cylindrical flowers), feature high on their list of preferred items. Local availability and seasonal offerings dictate what they go for, much as the stock at the local greengrocer determines what appears on home menus. Targeted morsels are gathered by the long, nimble giraffe tongues, high up where the dust should be less.

Graceful they are among the trees at mealtimes in the posh giraffe pose; very unlike the ungainly clumsiness they are reduced to when reaching down for drinking water. A giraffe is, of course, more practiced at eating than drinking: browsing takes up at least three quarters of daylight hours, plus overtime on some moonlit nights when they also get peckish. The rest of the time is spent in rumination. Drink water may happen once a day (www.giraffeconservation.org).