Girafro mug

Got an expat in your life or simply yearning for the sights, sounds and wildlife of the bushveld? Our Lesser Spotted African Wildlife mugs are guaranteed to teach you lots of stuff you didn’t know about Africa and its lesser spotted and not quite as well-known, though even more fascinating inhabitants.

About our LESSER SPOTTED AFRICAN WILDLIFE Girafro latte mugs:

This is what you get when you buy mugs from Stuff by Jools, you lucky person, you!:

• ○ 12oz (350ml) Lesser Spotted African Wildlife cone-shaped latte mug
• ○ Premium grade ceramics with scratch-resistant finish
• ○ Dishwasher- and handwash-friendly
• ○ Microwave-safe
• ○ Individually hand-made in Cape Town
• ○ The perfect gift for coffee, tea and hot chocolate lovers: friends, family members or loved ones – or for you!

*Please don’t scrub hard with bleach and a scourer, even if you’re a die-hard germaphobe (true story) – treat your Girafro mug gently and it’ll give you years of pleasure and amusement.

ALL ABOUT giraffes:

The tallest land mammals on earth, giraffes can be as tall as a whopping 5.8m and are easily recognisable thanks to their extremely long necks, spindly legs and spotted coats. I have no idea how tall brachiosauruses, who also had extremely long necks were – probably quite a bit taller, considering how big dinosaurs were – but they’re not the same, obviously. There are loads of them in the Kruger National Park.

KEY TRAITS:

Habitat: Wild giraffe populations used to be widespread across most of Africa but these days, are mostly found in East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania) and Southern Africa (Botswana, Namibia, South Africa).

Weight: Giraffe bulls usually weigh between 1200 and 1920kg while females usually weigh from 800 to 1180kg. Their enormous hearts weigh, roughly, a whopping 11kg and their necks can weigh as much as 272kg.

Best known for: Their vast height and blueish-purpley tongues, which can be as long as 50cm! They also nap standing up for one to two minutes at a time and only need five mins to half an hour of sleep every 24 hours.

Lifespan: They typically live for 12 to 15 years in the wild and up to 18 years in captivity.

Social Structure: Giraffes live in towers. Not actual towers of the man-made variety but some clever person decided to call their herds that (for obvious reasons). Their society is quite similar to that of elephants, mostly consisting of generations of females plus the young). Adult bulls can be, and usually are nomadic and solitary, while younger males strut around in bachelor herds.

Their Diet: Giraffes are herbivores (vegan, actually! Though they don’t tell you they are the second you meet them) and eat leaves, fruit and buds. They love dining on thorny acacia trees. As they get most of their moisture from their food (70% of it), they only need to drink water every couple of days. A bit of a design flaw is that they have to splay their long legs awkwardly to drink out of watering holes.

Breeding: They mate all year but most prolifically during rainy seasons when food is easily attainable. The females gestate for 14 to 15 months and have one calf with each pregnancy. Newborns can stand on their own within an hour and are weaned some time between six and 17 months. They weigh between 45 and 70kg at birth and reach their full height at about four years!

Spoor Description:

Collect the full set of 12 Lesser Spotted African Wildlife mugs and give your family and friends an inspirational topic for filling awkward silences.