Neck-to-neck combat: Giraffes fight fair when they spar, researchers find

Probably the most elegant fight.
There is no great cruelty in giraffe fights, only during the mating season do the males become more aggressive and begin to use powerful kicks that can easily split the skull of the opponent.
It's a rare occurrence to see giraffes fight, but when master's student Jessica Granweiler observed their skirmishes up close, she discovered that it was much more complex than it first appeared.

Oftentimes, she found, giraffes engage in fair and honourable sparring matches with one another — without any intent to injure.

"None of them had any injuries whatsoever during their sparring events," Granweiler told As It Happens host Carol Off. "Whereas during fighting, they do."

In an aggressive fight, giraffes throw punches with the force of their large necks and can stab each other with their ossicones — the small horn-like knobs on their heads.

"You will see males with broken horns or with patches of bare skin on their bum, in the back, because of the fighting," she said.

Granweiler and her colleagues went to South Africa's Mogalakwena River Reserve to record the different kinds of fights giraffes engaged in from Nov. 2016 to May 2017. They published their findings in the Ethology journal last month, distinguishing sparring as a fair fight, or practice for an eventual brawl.

She spoke with Off about their work. Here is part of their conversation.

Jessica, people may have seen a bit of a giraffe fight in the odd nature documentary. But what is it like to watch giraffes getting this aggressive when you're close up and watching them?

It's very impressive. You definitely don't want to get too close. It's like two towers getting against each other. It's very impressive.