At the edge of an acacia grove, a head appears above the treetops, chewing slowly. It belongs to an animal standing on the ground, not up in a tree.
How tall is a giraffe? An adult male stands up to 5.5 m (18 ft) tall, and a female up to 4.3 m (14 ft), says San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. That makes the giraffe the tallest animal alive. Even a newborn calf is about 1.8 m (6 ft), taller than most grown-up people. Below you will also find how long a giraffe is and how much it weighs.
Key takeaways
- Height: males up to 5.5 m (18 ft), females up to 4.3 m (14 ft), newborns about 1.8 m (6 ft).
- Weight: males up to about 1,360 to 1,930 kg (3,000 to 4,250 lb), females up to about 680 to 1,180 kg (1,500 to 2,600 lb), depending on the source.
- Length: the neck is about 1.8 m (6 ft) and the tail 76 to 101 cm (30 to 40 in). No reliable head-to-tail figure is published.
- Record: the tallest giraffe ever measured, George, stood 5.8 m (19 ft).
A giraffe’s height comes in three roughly equal parts. Its legs are about 1.8 m (6 ft) long, and its neck is another 1.8 m (6 ft). The body and head make up the rest. Heights are usually measured to the top of the ossicones, the two furry horn-like knobs on the head.
Picture it: a giraffe next to you
Heights drawn to the same scale (1 m = 32 px). The person is an average US man, 175 cm (5 ft 9 in), from CDC data.
1.75 m
1.8 m
3.05 m
4.3 m
5.5 m
Sources: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance; CDC. The bars show top-end giraffe heights, not averages.
Giraffe height: males, females and calves
Adult males reach up to 5.5 m (18 ft), adult females up to 4.3 m (14 ft), and calves are born about 1.8 m (6 ft) tall, according to San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. These are the top of the normal range. Giraffes from different regions vary, and no source we checked gives a published average height for wild giraffes.
| Measurement | Adult male | Adult female | Newborn calf | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Height | Up to 5.5 m (18 ft) | Up to 4.3 m (14 ft) | About 1.8 m (6 ft) | SDZWA |
| Weight | Up to 1,360 kg (3,000 lb); ADW gives up to 1,930 kg | Up to 680 kg (1,500 lb); ADW gives up to 1,180 kg | 45–100 kg (100–220 lb) | SDZWA; ADW |
| Neck length | About 1.8 m (6 ft), weighing about 272 kg (600 lb) | Not given | SDZWA | |
| Leg length | About 1.8 m (6 ft) | Not given | SDZWA | |
| Tail length | 76–101 cm (30–40 in) | Not given | ADW | |
| Tallest ever | 5.8 m (19 ft), George, 1960s | No record published | Not applicable | Guinness |
| Tallest living (verified 2019) | 5.7 m (18 ft 8 in), Forest | No record published | Not applicable | Guinness |
Treat “up to” figures as the upper end of normal. Many adult males are shorter than 5.5 m.
How tall is a male giraffe?
Males, called bulls, are the giants. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance gives them up to 5.5 m (18 ft) and up to 1,360 kg (3,000 lb). Older bulls keep putting on weight, and their skulls grow extra bony lumps. A heavier head helps in fights.
Bulls fight by swinging their necks and clubbing each other with their heads. This is called necking. A taller, heavier bull usually wins, so extra height is an advantage in finding a mate as well as in finding food.
How tall is a female giraffe?
Females, called cows, reach up to 4.3 m (14 ft) and up to 680 kg (1,500 lb), says San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. That makes them about 1.2 m (4 ft) shorter and around half the weight of the biggest males. A female is still tall enough to look into a second-floor window.
You can often tell the sexes apart by their ossicones. Females and young giraffes usually have thin ossicones with tufts of hair on top. Adult males often wear the hair off in fights, so their ossicones look bald and thick.
How tall is a baby giraffe?
A calf is born about 1.8 m (6 ft) tall, says San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. It weighs 45 to 100 kg (100 to 220 lb). Its mother gives birth standing up, after a pregnancy of about 14 months, so the calf’s first moment outside is a drop to the ground.
Calves grow fast. Giraffes reach adulthood at about 3 to 5 years old, according to the zoo. A 6 ft newborn is already taller than the average American man, who is about 175 cm (5 ft 9 in) tall, according to the CDC.
How long is a giraffe?
There is no reliable published head-to-tail length for giraffes, so be wary of exact figures online. What is measured is the parts: the neck is about 1.8 m (6 ft) long, says San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, and the thin tail is 76 to 101 cm (30 to 40 in), ending in a black tuft, says the Animal Diversity Web at the University of Michigan.
Giraffes are built tall rather than long. Most of their size points upwards, through the legs and neck, which is why height, not length, is the number scientists and zoos report. The Animal Diversity Web lists a length range of 4.7 to 5.7 m (15 to 19 ft), but it does not say what was measured, so we treat it as uncertain.
How much does a giraffe weigh?
Adult male giraffes weigh up to 1,360 kg (3,000 lb) and females up to 680 kg (1,500 lb), according to San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Other sources give heavier top weights: the Animal Diversity Web reports bulls up to 1,930 kg (4,250 lb) and cows up to 1,180 kg (2,600 lb). Calves weigh 45 to 100 kg at birth.
National Geographic gives an overall range of about 794 to 1,270 kg (1,750 to 2,800 lb). The spread between sources shows how much giraffes vary with age, sex and region. The neck alone weighs about 272 kg (600 lb), says San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, all of it held up in the air.
What is the tallest giraffe ever recorded?
The record belongs to George, a Masai bull who came to Chester Zoo in England from Kenya in January 1959. Guinness World Records says he stood 5.8 m (19 ft). His ossicones almost grazed the roof of the 6.1 m (20 ft) giraffe house. George died in July 1969.
The tallest living giraffe on record is Forest, a male at Australia Zoo in Queensland. Guinness measured him at 5.7 m (18 ft 8 in) to the top of his ossicones in December 2019. Zoo staff fixed a marked pole next to his hay feeder and filmed him for months to get the measurement.
Wild giraffes are never measured this way, so a taller bull may be out there somewhere. The records above are simply the tallest anyone has checked.
How tall is a giraffe compared to a human?
A 5.5 m bull is more than three times as tall as a 175 cm man. Put three average men on each other’s shoulders and they would still fall short of his head. His legs alone, at 1.8 m, are taller than that man.
A standard basketball hoop is 3.05 m (10 ft) high, so a big bull could look down on it, and even a female would tower over it.
How long is a giraffe’s neck?
About 1.8 m (6 ft), and it weighs about 272 kg (600 lb), says San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Yet it has only seven bones, the same number as your neck. Each giraffe neck bone is over 25 cm (10 in) long.
Other body parts are giant too. The tongue is about 46 cm (18 in) long. The heart is about 60 cm (2 ft) long and weighs about 11 kg (25 lb), and the feet are about 30 cm (12 in) across, the size of a dinner plate. A giraffe needs that big heart to push blood all the way up to its head. Our page on giraffe adaptations explains how.
Why are giraffes so tall?
Height lets giraffes eat leaves that other plant-eaters can’t reach. An adult can eat up to 34 kg (75 lb) of food a day, the zoo says, and much of it comes from treetops like acacias. A tall giraffe also sees lions coming from far away. Read what eats lions to see why even lions stay careful around a kicking giraffe.
Being tall has costs. A giraffe must spread its front legs wide to drink, which leaves it open to attack. Giraffes also sleep only 5 to 30 minutes in 24 hours, according to San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Their closest living relative, the okapi, has a much shorter neck and lives in forest.
Why does a giraffe’s height matter to the savanna?
A giraffe’s height makes it a lookout for other animals. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says giraffes are often the early warning signal for other savanna wildlife, because they can spot predators from far away. Their treetop browsing also gives them food that shorter grazers do not compete for.
Giraffes carry passengers too. Oxpecker birds ride on them and eat ticks from their skin, a partnership that helps both, says the Animal Diversity Web. Giraffes are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, according to National Geographic, and the zoo reports that reticulated giraffe numbers fell by about 80% in 10 years. See how many giraffes are left.
Myths about giraffe size
Myth: Giraffes have extra bones in their necks.
Fact: They have seven, the same as you. Each bone is just very long, over 25 cm (10 in). Why people believe it: a neck that long seems to need more bones. Source: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.
Myth: Giraffes are 20 ft (6 m) tall.
Fact: The tallest giraffe ever measured, George, stood 5.8 m (19 ft). Why people believe it: round numbers stick, and records get rounded up. Source: Guinness World Records.
Myth: Giraffes never sleep.
Fact: They do, but only 5 to 30 minutes in 24 hours. Why people believe it: their naps are short and often taken standing up, so people rarely notice them. Source: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.
Test yourself
1. How tall can an adult male giraffe grow?
Up to 5.5 m (18 ft), says San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.
2. How many bones are in a giraffe’s neck?
Seven, the same number as in a human neck.
3. Is a newborn giraffe taller than an average man?
Yes. A calf is about 1.8 m (6 ft) at birth, a little taller than the average 175 cm US man.
Where to next?
➡️ Go wider: explore more animals and their record-breaking sizes⬆️ Go deeper: how a giraffe’s heart, neck and legs make its height work🔀 Go sideways: how tall is a moose, the giant of northern forests
Frequently asked questions
Is a giraffe 20 feet tall?
Almost never. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance gives adult males up to 18 ft (5.5 m). The tallest giraffe ever recorded, George at Chester Zoo, stood 19 ft (5.8 m), according to Guinness World Records. No measured giraffe has reached 20 ft (6.1 m).
How tall is a giraffe in metres?
Adult males reach up to 5.5 m and adult females up to 4.3 m, says San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. A newborn calf is about 1.8 m. The record is 5.8 m, set by a Masai bull called George in the 1960s.
How heavy is a giraffe in tons?
A big male can weigh about 1.4 tonnes (3,000 lb) according to San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, and up to about 1.9 tonnes according to the Animal Diversity Web. Females weigh roughly half as much as the biggest males.
Is a giraffe the tallest animal in the world?
Yes. The giraffe is the tallest living animal. Even a female at 4.3 m (14 ft) stands far above a person, and a male’s head can reach 5.5 m (18 ft) or more.
When do giraffes stop growing?
Giraffes become adults at about 3 to 5 years old, according to San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Males can keep adding weight after that, especially on the head and neck, which they use as clubs when fighting other males.
Sources
- San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Giraffe.
- Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. Giraffa camelopardalis.
- National Geographic. Giraffe.
- Guinness World Records. Tallest giraffe ever.
- Guinness World Records (2019). Tallest giraffe living.
- CDC National Center for Health Statistics. FastStats: body measurements (2021–2023 data).
Sources checked 12 October 2026.
About 25 years ago, I had the pleasure to hand-feed a young giraffe. I lined up with the kids at an open zoo.
I was in my mid 40s at the time, but I didn’t care if anyone laughed at me, it was such a great experience to even get that close to such a magnificent animal.