Why is so much made of the elephants used in the Punic wars while there is almost nothing written on the usage of giraffes? I know that the walls in North Africa were specifically made tall enough that an army couldn't just use giraffes to scale them - but surely mainland Italy didn't do that?
Did they all freeze in the Alps, or was their use simply too embarrassing to be discussed much amongst Roman Historians?
Is there any further reading available on the military use of giraffes?
EDIT: This is an April Fools answer!
The giraffe, or equus tallus, is very well attested in Carthaginian histories. They were initially often used in sieges where their height enabled them to replace ladders for scaling certain fortifications. However, even the Carthaginians realized that they were vulnerable to being stabbed by defenders. Nonetheless, they found significant use in battles wherein the defenders were polite and vowed not to stab the animals.
The Punic Wars were very different for a number of reasons. Foremost among these was the fact that the Carthaginians considered the Romans to be quite rude. From Hannibal's diary of his Italian campaigns:
"...And I came upon them at Lake Trasimere, intending to request to partake in their wine, and the Legions stood, immovable and unwilling to aid my drunkeness. They sneered at my men, and (this part of the document is missing for some reason)" (The Diary of Hannibal Barca)
Though Lake Trasimere occurred after Hannibal crossed the Alps, it is one of our best surviving sources on Roman rudeness. Since the Carthaginians expected this, the giraffes with Hannibal's forces never crossed the Alps with the elephants. But this is not to say that he didn't have giraffes prior to the crossing. Prior to his adventure over the Alps, Hannibal and his army toured through Spain performing one of the earliest circus acts in history in an effort to pacify the population. There are no Carthaginian sources that survive about these tours, but we know of these events thanks to several pieces of evidence from the Iberian peoples of Spain.
The irony of this is that because the giraffes (and scaling ladders) were left behind, Hannibal had a much greater difficulty in capturing the fortified cities of Italy. It is certainly debated if this was ever his main intention as he seemed content to raid Roman wineries for their alcohol.
TL DR: The Romans were rude and the Carthaginians didn't want to transport their giraffes over the Alps just to have them stabbed for no reason. They did use them in a circus troupe to pacify the Spaniards though.
Further Readings:
On the Military Giraffe by George P. Burdell
101 Giraffe Recipes: for When You Can't Catch Your Other Prey by W. E. Coyote
How To Write An April Fools Answer on AskHistorians by Iphrikates
You may be familiar with some of the Roman military manuals that have survived, chief among them the manual written by Publius Rutilius Rufus. Though he was writing a good while after the Second Punic War, he claims to have had reviewed the writings of the greatest general of all time, Scipio Africanus, or at least those writings that the vile and perfidious Cato the Loser Censor didn’t destroy. There is one fragment that survived regarding the use of war giraffes:
....panthera adeo muta es paenitet, tantum hoc quod ego dico quod imago est panthera in hac pictura conatur ad vos manducare. i, ut diceret unus hoc est maxime panthera muta. Nullam quis sum ego mentulae quietum muros conatus eat. heu, ut ante vos ledo in sagitta quare non possum te interroga, cur non a iocus vobis victi. Iesus lutum inclinavit tempor equitibus hoc est, quod omnia illa sunt, et nemo est qui clamas, cum got simia exortuutm est comedere, qui dominae facies. et super equos ascendent catus diu fellatores es? hippocrites. peta lamebrains fasciculum est hoc? iocus inter me et paulo ledo quaedam lignum amplexator blog, vel aliquid assis facis? et exspuens in quantum numquam panthera! Filum? ego comedit leo uno tempore erant in cunni; ego crocodili, et non indicavit mihi habebat aquilae aliquid positivum, sed Im 'iustus esse pullum. quicquid dicentes quis est de me, et ne quidem est verum panthera. sed vade in crepitu ad vescendum conferunt, fellatores auferat. sic stulti estis, ut ostendit. hoc tale stercore. ego have umquam receperunt carthago delenda est ut una cum uersibus originalibus saliunt in vitam et ad haec pia stultus panthera plaustra. murum, et lingebant panthera deus dampras est mutus est. Im 'non iens ut veniam ad vos ultra amentes procreantur. scis iam non nocuerunt mihi mens suggesserit. nimia iniecta est mihi moles et sagitta. Dic mihi: cum Deo, stupri formica comedenti commentatione de post me jam foret -M. vae vobis sunt.
As you can tell, my Latin isn’t very good but the general gist of it is that Scipio Africanus believed that geraffes were simply stupid long horses.