Giraffidae
| Giraffidae Temporal range: 20–0 Ma Early Miocene - recent |
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| An okapi in Bristol Zoo, England | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Superfamily: | Giraffoidea |
| Family: |
Giraffidae Gray, 1821 |
| Genera | |
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See text |
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See text
Giraffidae is a family of ruminant artiodactyl mammals that shares a 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 (four species of Giraffa) and the okapi (the only known species of Okapia). Both are confined to Sub-Saharan Africa: the giraffe to the open savannas, and the okapi to the dense rainforest of the Congo. The two genera look very different on first sight, but share a number of common features, including a long, dark-coloured tongue, lobed canine teeth, and horns covered in skin, called ossicones.
The giraffids evolved from a group of even-toed ungulates in the early Miocene almost 25 million years ago. They formed part of a relatively late mammal diversification that also produced cattle, antelopes, and deer following a climate change that transformed subtropical woodlands into open savannah grasslands. The giraffids diversified into many now extinct forms that inhabited large parts of Eurasia and eventually spread into Africa, where the only still extant forms persist. The most primitive forms had short necks and were about the size of a modern red deer, somewhat similar to the modern okapi.
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