Giraffa

Giraffes are large African hoofed mammals. They are the tallest living terrestrial animals and the largest ruminants on Earth. They are classified under the family Giraffidae, along with their closest extant relative, the okapi. Traditionally, giraffes have been thought of as one species, Giraffa camelopardalis, with nine subspecies. Most recently, researchers proposed dividing them into four extant species, with seven subspecies, which can be distinguished morphologically by their fur coat patterns. Six valid extinct species of Giraffa are known from the fossil record.

Giraffa

Muhammad Mahdi Karim Facebook The making of this document was supported by Wikimedia CH . ( Submit your project! ) Fo… · GFDL 1.2 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
giraffePBDB
Sits inside
GiraffiniPBDB
Diet
browserPBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Giraffidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 11.63 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 272 occurrencesMiocene — about 21 of 272 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 101 of 272 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 137 of 272 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 1 occurrence12–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 2 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 9 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 11 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 39 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 60 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 57 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 47 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 28 occurrences11.63 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

272 occurrences of Giraffa on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

272 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

29 formations

Koobi Fora — 3.94°N, 36.25°EKoobi Fora — 4.26°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 3.78°N, 36.33°EKoobi Fora — 4.24°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 3.77°N, 36.39°EKoobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.98°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 4.22°N, 36.43°EKoobi Fora — 4.28°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 4.28°N, 36.38°EKoobi Fora — 4.06°N, 36.33°EKoobi Fora — 3.59°N, 36.24°EVogel River Series — 3.24°S, 35.18°EVogel River Series — 3.26°S, 35.18°EVogel River Series — 3.23°S, 36.19°EVogel River Series — 3.01°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°ENachukui — 4.25°N, 35.79°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°ENachukui — 3.08°N, 35.83°ENachukui — 3.87°N, 35.72°ENachukui — 4.00°N, 35.73°ENachukui — 4.16°N, 35.79°ENachukui — 3.89°N, 35.75°EOlduvai — 2.96°S, 35.29°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 34.32°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°EChiwondo — 10.00°S, 33.92°EChiwondo — 10.05°S, 33.96°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EHadar — 11.14°N, 40.58°EWehaietu — 10.90°N, 40.48°EWehaietu — 10.63°N, 40.54°EKanapoi — 2.37°N, 36.08°EKanapoi — 2.32°N, 36.07°ELukeino — 0.50°N, 35.67°ENubia — 16.25°N, 33.75°EWembere-Manonga — 3.09°S, 33.73°EWembere-Manonga — 4.03°S, 33.77°EHumbu — 2.33°S, 35.97°EOlorgesailie — 1.57°S, 36.43°ESagantole — 10.52°N, 40.47°ELothagam 1 — 2.88°N, 36.07°EMatabaietu — 10.55°N, 40.58°EVarswater & Bredasdorp — 32.98°S, 18.15°EBredasdorp & Varswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ENawata and Nachukui — 2.88°N, 36.07°EWarwire — 1.50°N, 31.00°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°ELatamne — 35.13°N, 36.75°EDursunlu — 38.28°N, 31.91°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Giraffa has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 53 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Giraffa and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Giraffa and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,029 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 185 sites for Giraffa, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

83 references

Each of the 272 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 71 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Giraffa

Credit
Muhammad Mahdi Karim Facebook The making of this document was supported by Wikimedia CH . ( Submit your project! ) Fo…
Licence
GFDL 1.2
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Giraffa camelopardalis · AMNH:Mammals:M-139696

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itGiraffini through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Brisson 1762