Wildlife Courtship / Giraffe / africanwildlifeonline, Captured in the Hluhluwe / Imfolozi Park, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. This video displays the male / female interaction during courtship.
Wildlife behaviour at its finest and obviously covers the subject of wildlife social interaction within the species.

"Female distribution exerts a major impact on male mating tactics. Giraffe cows have a reproductive cycle, and a social system, that should favor a male roaming reproductive tactic. We conducted a 2-year study of female Rothschild's giraffe (G. c. rothschildi) reproductive endocrinology in order to characterize attributes of the reproductive cycle and investigate how female endocrine and behavioral cues influence mating activity. We used non-invasive fecal steroid methods to determine reproductive state among females residing in a herd in a large outdoor enclosure. We found that females had an estrous cycle of 14.7 days and that they regularly had multiple ovarian cycles prior to conception. Adult males were more likely to associate with, and sexually investigate, females when they were cycling than when they were either pregnant or acyclic. During the estrous cycle, male-female proximity and sociosexual behavior were more pronounced during the probable fertile phase than the rest of the cycle. Sexual activity between giraffe coincided with the periovulatory period, with male interest in females peaking during the fertile window in the absence of proceptive behavior by females. We conclude that males detect reliable cues revealing female reproductive status and partition their reproductive effort in response to such cues. We propose that male giraffe adopt a roaming reproductive strategy with their large size, enabling them to search for and mate guard fertile females while minimizing metabolic costs."

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How Do Giraffes Mate
By Rose Kivi
Giraffes are similar to horses, donkeys and mules in their mating method. When the female is receptive and ready to mate, she stands still and allows the male to approach her. He mounts her from the rear, with both female and male facing in the same direction, and inserts his penis into her vagina. When mating ends, he withdraws and backs away. The timing of mating is wholly dependent on when the female is ready and willing.

The Female Cycle
The female reproductive cycle doesn't have any relationship to season – so the species can mate at any time of year. Female giraffes go into estrus, when they ovulate, every two weeks year round. When this happens, she produces chemicals called pheromones that send strong signals to males, letting them know she's ready. Male giraffes spend much of their time wandering in search of these tantalizing scents.

Finding a Mate
When a male giraffe finds a female giraffe in estrus, he nudges her rear end with his nose to encourage her to urinate. The male tastes the urine, checking for signals that she's ready to mate. If things look promising, he follows the female around until she stands still, indicating that the time is right. Occasionally, the male might be anxious and try too soon, but the female just walks away until she's made a positive decision. Sometimes this goes on for hours or even days, and occasionally nothing happens until another, more desirable male appears. She may go up to the new arrival and rub her neck on his, indicating her preference. Often a female giraffe chooses the most dominant giraffe available as a partner, possibly helping strengthening the genes passed to her young.

Pregnancy
If the female giraffe conceives, her pregnancy lasts for about 14 1/2 months. She gives birth to her baby standing up, so the newborn's first experience is to fall the long distance to the ground as it leaves its mother's womb. The baby giraffe quickly recovers from this tumble and is up and walking around within an hour. Because the male giraffe leaves after mating, the job of raising and caring for the new baby giraffe falls to the mother.

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