It isn’t something I’ve seen often: maybe twice during all my trips across southern and eastern Africa, but it stuck with me: a giraffe, standing tall and elegant as always, carefully chewing on what looked unmistakably like… a bone.
At first, it felt like something was off. Aren’t giraffes strict vegetarians? Why on earth would they gnaw on an old skeleton?
I later found out it’s not just an oddity; it’s a common and completely natural behaviour among herbivores, called Osteophagia, with a fascinating reason behind it.
Giraffes and Bones: A Case of “Osteophagia”
The act of chewing or sucking on bones is known as osteophagia, and giraffes aren’t the only ones doing it. From porcupines to tortoises, many herbivores in the wild occasionally pick up bones. But why?
Simply put, bones contain minerals like calcium and phosphorus, vital for the maintenance of strong bones and teeth. While giraffes get most of their nutrition from leaves, bark, and shoots, sometimes these don’t provide enough of certain minerals. So when their bodies are lacking, they instinctively look elsewhere.
Isn’t it intriguing how animals know what their bodies need, even without a nutritionist or multivitamin in sight?
No, They’re Not Becoming Carnivores
One of the first questions people ask when they hear about this behaviour is: do giraffes eat meat then? The answer is no, not in the way we’d think of a carnivore like lions. Giraffes don’t hunt, chase, or kill animals for food. They don’t tear flesh or crunch bones the way lions or hyenas do.
What they do is chew on dry bones, usually from long-dead animals. They often lick, gnaw, or gently chew on the bones to extract minerals, sometimes even holding them with their tongues. Most of the time, they don’t swallow large chunks, and if they do, it’s usually accidental or in very small amounts. In fact, they usually drop the bone once they’ve gotten what they needed.
There have been rare sightings of giraffes nibbling at dried meat or licking the remnants of a carcass, but again, this is about supplementing minerals, not satisfying a taste for meat.
When and Why It Happens
Bone-chewing is especially common during the dry season, when green, leafy food is scarce and mineral content in plants drops. Pregnant or lactating females may also do this more often, since they need more calcium and phosphorus for their growing calves. Some zookeepers have even reported captive giraffes picking up bones when they weren’t getting quite enough minerals in their diet.
Interestingly, research has shown that this isn’t just a random habit – it’s purposeful. Giraffes don’t go around chewing every bone they find. They seem to choose particular ones, often older and sun-bleached. It’s thought that these are easier to chew and richer in extractable minerals.
So it’s not about meat. It’s about keeping their own massive skeletons strong and healthy.
A Moment of Surprise – and Respect
When I saw that giraffe with a bone between its jaws, it first felt wrong. Almost unsettling. But now, knowing what I do, I see it differently. It’s actually a quiet moment of intelligence and adaptation.
Nature doesn’t waste anything. That bone, left behind by one animal, becomes a mineral top-up for another. A giraffe, in its own calm and unhurried way, finds exactly what it needs and moves on.
So, Are Giraffes Still Herbivores?
Absolutely. Chewing bones doesn’t disqualify them from the herbivore category. Herbivores are animals that primarily eat plants, and giraffes still spend the vast majority of their day nibbling acacia leaves and reaching for treetop foliage.
Just like how a deer might eat an egg if it finds one, or a tortoise might gnaw on a bone, giraffes will take advantage of what’s available. It’s not a change in diet – it’s more like a clever supplement strategy.
Final Thoughts
Next time you spot a giraffe chewing on something unexpected, don’t be too quick to judge. It’s not turning into a meat-eater – it’s just solving a nutritional puzzle the best way it knows how. Quietly, instinctively, and with surprising wisdom.
It makes you wonder: how many other moments in nature do we misunderstand, simply because they don’t fit into the boxes we expect?
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Happy travels!
Lizzy
I now have a YouTube channel as well!
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Hello Africa travellers!
Who am I? Well, the least you can say is that I am quite crazy about Africa, its nature, its climate, its culture, and more.
As a young woman in my twenties, I had already traveled to several African countries by traveling along in an overlander on my own and mostly camping ( or glamping ) and just fell in love with the diversity of it all.
So much, so that at the age of 26, I went back to university to study biology, which, unfortunately, I couldn’t finish because of health reasons (yes, I got sick from a tropical disease, oh cynicism). But this did not stop my dream of traveling back to Africa several times, and I still do.
My dream was back then to leave Europe and go study animal behavior, especially the elephants (sure, that’s every girl’s dream haha), but I am also very much intrigued by hyenas and other “ugly African animals“.
So, I “kind of” have a little bit of a scientific approach to my articles, when I write about African birds, for example. And most of all: the passion.
But life goes on, you move from one side of the country to the other, you get sick again and top it off with lower back problems, and before you know it, you are over 50 hahaha!
Now, I still travel to Africa, but take it a bit “easier” than the good old camping days, and stay in comfortable, yet affordable accommodations, together with my husband Wouter.
These are some of the countries I have traveled to: Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Tunisia, and a little bit of Lesotho LOL .
While clearly not being African territory, but Spanish, I also visited Gran Canaria and Tenerife, and location-wise, I consider them “African”, because of their climate and nature, sue me :-p
The last trip I took was to South Africa in the year 2023, and it sure got the fevers for Africa back! From the Barberton mountains to the Drakensberg and the Southcoast, one month wasn’t enough at all to see the whole country, so we’ll be back! At ease and with a little bit more luxury than in my younger days haha!
I wish you happy travels!
Kind regards
Lizzy
