The thick left ventricular wall of the giraffe heart normalises wall tension, but limits stroke volume and cardiac output
Giraffes – the tallest extant animals on Earth – are renowned for their high central arterial blood pressure, which is necessary to secure brain perfusion. Arterial pressure may exceed 300 mmHg and has historically been attributed to an exceptionally large heart. Recently, this has been refuted by several studies demonstrating that the mass of giraffe heart is similar to that of other mammals when expressed relative to body mass. It thus remains unexplained how the normal-sized giraffe heart generates such