# Can't giraffes swim? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 13, 2002, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-giraffes-swim/142624 "2002-12-13T22:22:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DeepField](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@DeepField](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeepField)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-giraffes-swim/142624/1 "2002-12-13T22:22:07Z")
I have just read that giraffes, having no possibilities of ever having to swim, lack the instinct to even try to do it. They even said that there is a case of one that fell off a ferry boat, and sunk quietly, without even getting afraid, to its death. Is that correct or is it just another urban (well, African) legend that somebody should clear up? ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-giraffes-swim/142624/2 "2002-12-13T22:40:11Z")
Giraffes are one of the few mammals that cannot swim, I know that. If you put one in the water I don’t know what it’ll do, but because it has a strange way of walking/running I think that there’s not alot it can do except sink to the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-giraffes-swim/142624/3 "2002-12-13T22:48:08Z")
We had some previous discussion on swimming giraffes in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60146&highlight=giraffe+swim), and of giraffes and many other swimming animals in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=41778&highlight=giraffe+swim), which was in reference to this [Staff Report](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcamelswim.html) by **JillGat**. Although it is often alleged that giraffes cannot swim, in my opinion the evidence is equivocal. (And of course, the evidence on the subject is entirely anecdotal, since there never has been an experimental program to get to the bottom of this question.) I re-post here one of my posts from the first thread I linked to: > [@](#): > > From Grzimeks’s Animal Life Encyclopedia, Bernhard Grzimek, 1972, Vol. 13, p. 258: > > > [@](#): > > > > A difficult obstacle for giraffes is water. Nevertheless, Turner observed two giraffes on the Serengeti in broad daylight walking across a small lake. The water probably was one and a half meters deep. In south Sudan, Scherpner saw three giraffes cross an even larger tributary of the Nile. According to the statements of his native companions, these animals must have swam. It was especially strange to see their necks stretched far forward; only the upper third of the neck and the head were above the water’s surface. > > I interpret the last part to mean that Scherpner actually witnessed the giraffes crossing, and his native companions informed him that the river was too deep at that point for them to have been wading. > > From East African Mammals, by Jonathan Kingdon, 1979, Vol. III, Part B, pg. 325: > > > [@](#): > > > > . . .they tend to avoid deeper bogland during the rains, although they will wade quite deep rivers and are reputed to be able to swim. > > Ok, not exactly a definitive statement on Kingdon’s part, but as he is the leading authority on African mammals even such a qualified statement has some weight. > > It’s not as much evidence as I might like, but for my part Mr. Fish’s will actually have to produce a drowned giraffe before I believe him. ---
**Author:** ![I\_am\_Sparticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@I\_am\_Sparticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_am_Sparticus)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-giraffes-swim/142624/4 "2002-12-14T07:40:05Z")
I would imagine that such a tall animal of such bulk would be bouyant enough that its head would remain well above the water line. ---
**Author:** ![JAPrufrock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@JAPrufrock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JAPrufrock)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-giraffes-swim/142624/5 "2002-12-14T17:47:41Z")
:::It was especially strange to see their necks stretched far forward; only the upper third of the neck and the head were above the water’s surface.::: Hmmmm…this remind anyone of those pictures of the Loch Ness Monster?