The death this week of a giraffe struck by lightning raises an obvious question: are these lankiest of creatures especially vulnerable to bolts from the sky?
Hamley the giraffe's death in a South African game reserve has been widely reported as he's been a fixture in the ITV drama Wild At Heart.
Was he unlucky - wrong place, wrong time, wrong weather conditions - or are giraffes regularly hit by lightning?
When a bolt strikes, the instinct is to duck. Pity the poor giraffe. Standing about 5m tall thanks to its elongated neck and lanky legs, it is the tallest land-living animal. So it's easy to see why giraffa camelopardalis might attract lightning.
Dr Julian Fennessy, a Namibia-based conservationist and chair of the International Giraffe Working Group, says such deaths are not unknown.
Rest of article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11734228
