Posted on 06/23/2017 7:41:58 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Two months ago, Reddit user infernograve woke from a vivid dream. As wakefulness crept back, the dream did not recede, rather, it stuck in his mind, piquing his curiosity and prompting a burning question. He subsequently logged into Reddit's popular AskScience subreddit to share it:
"Do giraffes get struck by lightning more often than other animals?"
The question is now the most popular ever asked on the forum.
So do giraffes get struck by lightning at higher rates? Intuitively, the obvious answer is "yes." Standing between fourteen and nineteen feet tall when fully grown, giraffes tower above the savannah and open woodland landscapes where they dwell. Of course, lightning doesn't always strike the tallest object in an area, but taller objects are more susceptible due to the shorter gap between the object and the lightning's point of origin.
As zoologist Darren Naish learned when researching for a potential book, "Between 1996 and 1999, the Rhino and Lion Reserve near Krugersdorp, South Africa, had two of its three giraffes killed by lightning – the third animal (a juvenile) was also struck but survived."
There was also an incident in 2003 in which lightning struck and killed Betsy the giraffe at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida. At the time, it was the only fatality of the sort to ever occur in the park.
Anecdotes aside, there aren't really any concrete numbers on the subject. There is at least one pertinent published paper, however.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearscience.com ...
Hikers and even wedding parties get struck here in North Carolina on the mountain balds, too. Some of the higher mountains above 6,000 ft have no trees, just low scrub and bare rock, some flowers. Very beautiful, 360 degree view. So, hikers love it and people like to get married up there. There was a bride and I believe groom killed on Max Patch near Asheville a few years back.
I’ve always been told that if you feel a static charge, hair standing up on your head, arms or anywhere else, you need to dive out of the way right now or crouch down and get very small very quickly, because you’re about to get zotted.
About the same answer as to their being closer to God.
rwood
Seriously, I saw my 2,500 lb. registered Angus bull in the middle of our pond yesterday trying to cool off and get rid of the flies on his back. He was in so deep, only his head was above water.
My first thought was, if he gets stuck in the mud and drowns, there goes about $8-10 thousand dollars down the drain. He is key to the whole cattle operation.
My first thought would be to bring Mr. Angus inside where we would both be cool.
Maybe pygmy horses would get struck less? Have to cost less to feed too, and you could make money hiring it out to little kids’ birthday parties :)
We lost a diary bull that way once when I was a kid. Got stuck in the pond and died overnight. Painful loss.
"Horses eat money, and excrete work..."
Funny guy.
Horses demand a lot of human attention. Cows not so much.
Good one. I’ll pass that one on to my wife. It was her horse.
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