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The giraffe's head and neck are held up by large muscles and a nuchal ligament, which are anchored by long thoracic vertebrae spines, giving them a hump. [17] [63] [36] Adult male reticulated giraffe feeding high on an acacia, in Kenya. The giraffe's neck vertebrae have ball and socket joints.
The Giraffidae are a family of ruminant artiodactyl mammals that share a recent common ancestor with deer and bovids.This family, once a diverse group spread throughout Eurasia and Africa, presently comprises only two extant genera, the giraffe (between one and eight, usually four, species of Giraffa, depending on taxonomic interpretation) and the okapi (the only known species of Okapia).
The current IUCN taxonomic scheme lists one species of giraffe with the name G. camelopardalis and nine subspecies. [1] [7] A 2021 whole genome sequencing study suggests the northern giraffe as a separate species, and postulates the existence of three distinct subspecies, [8] and more recently, one extinct subspecies.
In addition, Rothschild's giraffe displays no markings on the lower leg, giving it the impression of wearing white stockings. [2] Another distinguishing feature of Rothschild's giraffe, although harder to spot, is the number of ossicones on the head. This is the only Giraffa phenotype to be born with five ossicones. Two of these are the larger ...
However, recent genetic research has shown that the populations from northern Cameroon and southern Chad actually are the Kordofan giraffe (G. c. antiquorum). [5] Therefore, the giraffes that remain in Waza National Park (Cameroon) belong to the Kordofan giraffe, while the only remaining viable population of the West African giraffe is in Niger ...
Giraffoidea is a superfamily that includes the families Climacoceratidae, Prolibytheriidae, and Giraffidae.The only extant members in the superfamily are the giraffes and okapi.
South African giraffe (G. g. giraffa), also known as Cape giraffe Is found in northern South Africa , southern Botswana, southern Zimbabwe, Eswatini and south-western Mozambique . It has dark, somewhat rounded patches "with some fine projections" on a tawny background colour.
Giraffomorpha is a clade of pecoran ruminants containing the superfamilies Palaeomerycoidea (Palaeomerycidae) and Giraffoidea (Giraffidae, Prolibytheriidae and Climacoceratidae), of which the giraffe and okapi of the Giraffidae are the only extant members of the once-diverse clade as a result of a decline in diversity after the Miocene as a result of declines in temperatures.