BY KIM ATIENZA
Did you know that some animals are naturally insomniac?
While there are animals that can sleep the whole day and night, like cats, there are others that do not sleep at all, or sleep very little.
Did you know that giraffes often sleep for only 20 minutes in any 24 hours? They may sleep up to 2 hours (in spurts – not in one sitting), but this is rare. They never lie down, too.
Why do giraffes have such long necks? Giraffes adapt to their environment. Because trees in the forest grow tall, animals like them develop the capacity to stretch their long necks to pick fruits for survival. Giraffes with longer necks tend to have more babies. Google says giraffes are the tallest mammals on earth. Their legs alone are taller than many humans—about 6 feet. They can run as fast as 35 miles an hour over short distances, or cruise at 10 mph over longer distances. A giraffe’s neck is too short to reach the ground.
Giraffes are not so commonly found in the Philippines.
We do have some of them at a forest reserve in Calauit island in Palawan, a government project during Marcos time.
*
TRIVIA PA MORE (Various Sources): In billion years, the sun will run out of fuel and turn into a red giant. Theory.
*
Send your questions on anything and everything to Kuya Kim through my Twitter account @kuyakim_atienza using #AlaminKayKuyaKim.
