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October 14, 2026 |
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Mammals |
| | Giraffes are 30 times more likely than humans to be struck by lightning. | | By Bennett Kleinman |  | If a human being and giraffe were to get caught standing next to each other in a lightning storm, odds are Zeus would target the giraffe first. Given the height of the average giraffe, it isn’t that shocking (forgive the pun) to learn these creatures are essentially the lightning rods of the animal kingdom. But what may surprise you is these long-necked beasts are a whopping 30 times more likely to be struck by lightning than the typical human.
Now this isn’t to say fatal lightning strikes are common in either case, as it’s exceedingly rare — albeit more common than for humans — for a giraffe to be struck down. An analysis of lightning strikes between 1996 and 2010 found that five giraffes perished due to lightning worldwide, which equals a rate of 0.003 deaths per thousand giraffes per year. By comparison, data collected from 1989 to 2018 showed that the U.S. alone averaged 43 documented human lightning fatalities per year. | |
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True or False? |
| | Giraffes have more neck vertebrae than humans do. | |
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