New Delhi, Feb. 26 -- The gut bacteria of giraffes are determined not by the plants they eat but by the species they belong to, according to a study by researchers from Uppsala and Brown universities.

A team of experts from both institutions analysed the link between diet and gut flora in three giraffe species - the reticulated giraffe, the Masai giraffe and the northern giraffe, which live around the equator in Kenya.

By sequencing plant and bacterial DNA from faecal samples, they were able to investigate both the bacterial composition of the gut and which plants wild giraffes had eaten.

"Despite geographic proximity and close evolutionary relationships, the three giraffe species of Kenya exhibited strong differences in both diets and...