What animal has the highest blood pressure?

Most mammals have a relatively low blood pressure because their blood needs only move a short distance between head and heart.

For the giraffe the distance is significant. That creates two problems: a giraffe's heart must cope with the hydrostatic pressure exerted on it by the amount of blood in such a tall neck. For blood to reach the head, the heart must then beat strongly enough to overcome this significant downward pressure caused by gravity.

Previous studies have found the giraffe has an extremely high blood pressure that is twice that found in other animals. The heart of an adult giraffe can weigh as much as 26 lbs.

More Info: news.bbc.co.uk

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65 Comments

davidgrimsrud

logical answer, good question

Naked Kitty Slave

Didn't know; but logically the giraffe's systolic blood pressure must be quite high. I wish the pressures had been part of the write up, as well as the norm pressures for other animals.

Marienne Litolff

Scott Morris, that may be so, but can you reach up to eat the lower branches of tall trees? 😁

Pritty obvious

Chris

I guessed the horse because they can run to death.

Rich

Tallest animal on the planet is going have the highest bp

Rebecca Neese

Keith Kimble, what do you mean by relevance? Relevance to what? As I understand it, the questions on this quiz site are stand-alone, general knowledge trivia questions.