Biologists have studied mating behavior in giraffes. In this respect informs University of California at Davis.
Most animal species have an adapted signaling system that tells potential mates that they are ready to reproduce. It can be both sounds (as in birds) and smells (as in dogs), as well as complex ritual complexes. However, for a long time, scientists were not sufficiently aware of how giraffes signal mating. They do not have a specific breeding season and do not go into heat like dogs or cats. They do not make special sounds and do not give visible visual signals that they are ready to mate.
Now American zoologists have published it in the journal Animals article, this process is also described here. Males first provoke females to urinate by poking and sniffing their genitals. If the female is open to mating, the male takes his urine in his mouth while urinating for about 5 seconds by opening his hooves. Then he twists his lip, breathes with his mouth open – this is called flehmen, during which the smell of the female and pheromones from the oral cavity are transferred to the vomeronasal organ.
While Flehmen is common in many animals, including horses and cats, most mammals wait for urine to be on the ground to examine. However, the giraffe is anatomically unsuitable for such activities.
“Because of their extremely long necks, they don’t risk being bent towards the ground,” said study leader Lynette Hart. “So, they have to nudge the female saying, ‘Please urinate now.
If the female does not do this or the pheromones for some reason do not suit the male, mating will not begin.
Source: Gazeta
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