Wednesday, February 16, 2005
This question is logical
Question: Do giraffes standing on the plains of Africa ever get struck by lightning?
Answer: Yes, and not only giraffes. Game, stock, humans and trees all get struck with varying frequency and effect. Some of the planet's highest lightning strike frequencies have been recorded in parts of southern Africa, and loss of stock or human life is not particularly unusual. Giraffes are good targets, but there are not many of them and their remains are often quickly consumed by scavengers, destroying evidence of the strike.
Even in the Bushveld, a low-lying area where thunderstorms are common, lightning is not a leading cause of giraffe death. There seems to have been no evolutionary selection for specific avoidance behavior —cowering giraffes are not a sensitive predictor of thunderstorms. It is rumored, however, that llamas and their relatives in the Andes lie down in storms, heads together, and that one bolt sometimes kills a whole herd. If true, sheltering in this way must offer some protection, despite the occasional disastrous strike. - Jon Richfield, Dennesig, South Africa
Answer: Yes, and not only giraffes. Game, stock, humans and trees all get struck with varying frequency and effect. Some of the planet's highest lightning strike frequencies have been recorded in parts of southern Africa, and loss of stock or human life is not particularly unusual. Giraffes are good targets, but there are not many of them and their remains are often quickly consumed by scavengers, destroying evidence of the strike.
Even in the Bushveld, a low-lying area where thunderstorms are common, lightning is not a leading cause of giraffe death. There seems to have been no evolutionary selection for specific avoidance behavior —cowering giraffes are not a sensitive predictor of thunderstorms. It is rumored, however, that llamas and their relatives in the Andes lie down in storms, heads together, and that one bolt sometimes kills a whole herd. If true, sheltering in this way must offer some protection, despite the occasional disastrous strike. - Jon Richfield, Dennesig, South Africa
