Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
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] [62] [35] Adult male reticulated giraffe feeding high on an acacia, in Kenya. The giraffe's neck vertebrae have ball and socket joints.
In okapi, the male's ossicones are smaller in proportion to the head, and taper towards their tips, forming a sharper point than the comparatively blunt giraffe ossicone. Whereas female giraffes have reduced ossicones, female okapi lack ossicones entirely. The morphology of ossicones in the extinct relatives of giraffes and okapi varies widely.
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 spotting pattern extends throughout the legs but not the upper part of the face. The neck and rump patches tend to be fairly small. The subspecies also has a white ear patch. [9]: 51 Around 13,000 animals are estimated to remain in the wild; and about 20 are kept in zoos. [5] South African giraffe (G. g. giraffa), also known as Cape giraffe
Often mistaken with the southern giraffe, the northern giraffe differs by the shape and size of the two distinctive horn-like protuberances known as ossicones on its forehead; they are longer and larger than those of southern giraffe. Male northern giraffes have a third cylindrical ossicone in the center of the head just above the eyes, ranging ...
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.
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
The giraffe weevil (Trachelophorus giraffa) is a species of small weevil endemic to Madagascar. [2] They are black-bodied and have bright red elytra covering their wings. . Giraffe weevils are known for their elongated necks, with the males having necks 2 to 3 times the size of their female counte