A giraffe reportedly killed a cyclist in South Africa

July 30, 2016

By Erin Conway-Smith

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Cyclists face many perils: Saddle sores, dangerous drivers. Only in South Africa, they also need to worry about giraffe attacks, apparently.

Yes, giraffes. Those strange-looking herbivores aren't known for attacking humans, but in sad news from South Africa, a man was reportedly killed by a giraffe while out biking on the grounds of a game lodge.

"He had gone cycling alone," Colonel Ronel Otto told local media. "He was allegedly attacked, or trampled, by a giraffe."

The full story isn't yet clear, with a post mortem underway Tuesday after 45-year-old Braam Bosse's body was found by guests at the Thabo Monate Game Lodge in Limpopo province, with his bicycle lying nearby.

This isn't the first time a giraffe has turned on a South African cyclist. In a 2013 incident caught on video, a giraffe chased two mountain bikers at the Groenkloof Nature Reserve near Pretoria, trampling one of their bicycles before letting up.

And we can't forget the viral video of a few years back, in which a GoPro camera captured the dramatic scene of a South African mountain biker getting T-boned by an antelope during a race.

It's worth remembering a line from the end of that video, a warning to all cyclists: "This is why you wear a helmet!"

More from GlobalPost: 22 weird facts about animal sex

Will you support The World?

The story you just read is not locked behind a paywall because listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Now more than ever, we need your help to support our global reporting work and power the future of The World. Can we count on you?