Are giraffes more vulnerable to lightning than other animals?

Giraffes stand tall where they live. So, are they more vulnerable to lightning than other shorter creatures? Two months ago, Reddit user infernograve woke up from a vivid dream. When I woke up gradually, the dream did not recede. Instead, it stayed in his mind, aroused his curiosity and caused strong problems. He then logged on to the popular AsksScience subreddit and shared: "Are giraffes more vulnerable to lightning than other animals?"

This issue is now the hottest issue on the forum.

Will giraffes be struck by lightning? Intuitively, the obvious answer is yes. Giraffes are between 14 and 19 feet tall as adults, towering over grasslands and inhabiting the open woodland landscape. Of course, lightning does not always hit the tallest object in an area, but because the distance between the object and the origin of lightning is short, taller objects are more susceptible.

As zoologist Dai Lun Naish learned when studying a possible book, "Between 1996 and 1999, the rhinoceros and lion sanctuary is located near Krugersdorp. Two of the three giraffes were killed by lightning, and the third animal (a cub) was also hit, but survived.

Another incident occurred in 2003, when lightning struck and killed Betsy the giraffe at Disney Animal Kingdom in Florida. It was the only similar death in the park.

Anecdotal aside, there are no specific figures on this issue. However, at least one related paper has been published.

20 1 1 Chandima Gomes, an electrical engineer at the University of Putra, Malaysia, one of the most important lightning safety experts, wrote an authoritative scientific paper on lightning strikes by animals. He pointed out, "animals with long front and rear feet. . . Because there may be a dangerous potential difference between the two feet when lightning strikes nearby, it is very vulnerable to lightning strikes. " For animals like giraffes, this means that dangerous current can pass through their vital organs. Gomez also wrote that tall animals, such as elephants and giraffes, may be victims of side flashes. Lightning strikes a nearby tree and bounces back after hitting the animal's head. If they come into direct contact with the hit tree, they may also suffer from "contact potential", that is, potentially deadly current flows from branches to animals.

Gomez's explanation has a solid scientific foundation, but again, without clear figures, it is difficult to determine whether these scenes are equivalent to giraffes being attacked more frequently than other animals. The risk of giraffes being struck by lightning is likely to be higher, but because lightning strikes are very rare, the increase in risk will not translate into the prevalence of violence and electrical deaths.

The original article about RealClearScience.