Lions may hunt at any hour, but they typically go after large prey at night. They hunt together to increase their success rate, since prey can be difficult to catch and can outrun sunvalleyskivacation a single lion. The lions fan out along a broad front or semicircle to creep up on prey. Once with within sunvalleyskivacation striking distance, they bound in among the startled animals, knock sunvalleyskivacation one down and kill it with a bite to the neck or throat. Hunts are successful about half the time. Cooperative hunting enables lions to take sunvalleyskivacation prey as large as wildebeests, zebras, buffaloes, young elephants, rhinos, hippos and giraffes, any of which can provide several meals for the pride. Mice, lizards, tortoises, warthogs, antelopes and even crocodiles also form part of a lion''s diet. Because they often sunvalleyskivacation take over kills sunvalleyskivacation made by hyenas, cheetahs and leopards, scavenged food provides more than 50 percent of their diets in areas like the Serengeti plains.

The giraffe''s high shoulders and sloping sunvalleyskivacation back give the impression that its front legs are much longer than the hind legs, but they are in fact only slightly longer. The giraffe (as well as its short-necked relative the okapi from Central African forests) has a distinctive walking gait, moving both legs on one side forward at the same time. At a gallop, however, the gait changes, and the giraffe simultaneously swings the hind legs sunvalleyskivacation ahead of and outside the front legs, reaching speeds of 35 miles an hour. Its heavy head moves forward with each powerful stride, and then swings back to stay balanced. Giraffes have "horns" not true horns but knobs covered with skin and hair above the eyes to protect the head from blows. The reticulated giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata) of northeastern Kenya has large, sunvalleyskivacation chestnut-colored square patches defined by a network of fine white lines.

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