Giraffes Visit Family For Breakfast

Giraffes continue to have a presence in modern popular culture; most notably Toys "R" Us mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe. They also appear as miscellaneous characters in films like The Lion King and Dumbo. They have had more prominent roles with Melman from Madagascar and Longrack from the Transformers universe.
Scientific inspiration
Giraffes have been used as examples for introducing ideas in evolution, especially to illustrate the ideas of Lamarck. Lamarck believed that the giraffe's long neck developed as a result of ancestral giraffe's reaching to browse on the leaves of tall trees. In addition the coat patterns of several subspecies of giraffe have been modelled using reaction-diffusion mechanisms. The giraffe's circulatory system has been studied by NASA which hopes to replicate the giraffe's ability to keep blood from pooling in its lower body for astronauts returning from space.