Label the Parts of a Giraffe – Worksheet With a Key

All 11 parts on the diagram

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Neck A giraffe's neck has seven bones, the same number as yours. Each one is very long.
Front leg The front legs look longer than the hind legs. A giraffe defends itself by kicking.
Hind leg The hind legs look shorter than those in front.
Tail A giraffe's tail is long and thin.
Hoof Giraffes are hoofed animals. Each foot is about as wide as a dinner plate.
Patches Dark patches with pale lines between them. No two giraffes have the same pattern.
Knee To drink, a giraffe spreads its front legs or bends the knees.
Tail tuft A tuft of long, dark hair that whisks flies away.
Hump Long spines of the backbone make this hump.
Back A giraffe's back slopes steeply from the shoulders down to the rump.
Rump The rear of the body. A giraffe lying down may rest its head on its rump.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30 against (1) Wikipedia, text only: Giraffe, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giraffe (ossicones, neck, hump over the long spines of the thoracic vertebrae, front and hind legs, knees, hooves, tail ending in a dark tuft, coat patches, eyes on the sides of the head, movable ears, a dark tongue about 45 cm long, flexible hairy upper lip, rump); (2) San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Giraffe, https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/giraffe (seven neck vertebrae, ossicones on both sexes, a small hump on the back, coat patterns, 18-inch tongue and prehensile lips, eyelashes, legs, rump); (3) University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Animal Diversity Web, Giraffa camelopardalis, https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Giraffa_camelopardalis/ (front legs longer than back legs, seven neck vertebrae, back sloping steeply from the shoulders to the rump, long thin tail with a black tuft that whisks away flies, ossicones, patches, hooves, ears); (4) Giraffe Conservation Foundation fact pages, https://giraffeconservation.org/facts-about-giraffe/ (tongue 45 to 50 cm, seven neck bones, ossicones covered in furred skin on males and females, every coat pattern unique, feet the size of dinner plates, forelegs splayed or knees bent to drink, rump). Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-05 by script. The outlines of the head, the neck, the body and the four legs were measured on one photograph, Masai Mara Giraffe, by HasselbladWhisperer, 2023, CC0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Masai_Mara_Giraffe.jpg). Changed from the photograph: the tail hangs, the far feet stand on the same ground line, the ear is a little larger, the lump on the forehead is smoothed away, the mouth of the enlarged head is opened, and the coat patches are a pattern grown by the script, not the animal's own. The tongue round a twig follows the idea of the wood engraving Head of the Giraffe, The Penny Magazine, 1832, public domain; the twig, its leaves and the tongue are our own geometry. Licence: own drawing; outline after a CC0 photograph

How it works

To label the parts of a giraffe, write a name on the line for each number. Eleven numbers ring a giraffe seen from the side, from the neck down to a hoof and back to the tail tuft.

Read the full guide

Giraffe worksheet word bank

In alphabetical order, to copy onto the board: back, front leg, hind leg, hoof, hump, knee, neck, patches, rump, tail, tail tuft.

The numbers that get swapped

Three sit along the top of the body. The hump is the high point where the neck begins, the back is the slope that runs down from it, and the rump is the rounded end where the tail starts. The tail has two numbers: one for the tail and one for the tuft of hair at its end. On the front leg, the knee is the joint halfway down.

The two knobs on the head are ossicones. They are drawn, but have no number on this sheet.

Questions and answers

Why does a giraffe have a hump?

Long spines stand up from the backbone over the shoulders. The large muscles and the ligament that hold up the head and neck are anchored to them, and together they make the hump.

What color are a giraffe's patches?

Orange, chestnut, brown or nearly black, with light hair between them that is usually white or cream. Any of those suits a sheet that gets colored in. Males grow darker as they age.

How does a giraffe walk?

It moves both legs on one side of its body, then both legs on the other side. Walking and galloping are its only two gaits.

Does the giraffe worksheet have an answer key?

Yes. The key prints the giraffe with its numbers and lists the eleven names in order, from neck to rump.