The following table compares the different hypotheses for giraffe species. The description column shows the traditional nine subspecies in the one species hypothesis. [1] [25] Species and subspecies of giraffe Dinosaurs are classified as reptiles, a group that includes crocodiles, lizards, turtles, and snakes. Of this large group of animals, other than birds, crocodiles are the closest living things to dinosaurs. Is a Brachiosaurus taller than a giraffe? Chen, L.; Qiu, Q.; Jiang, Y.; Wang, K. (2019). "Large-scale ruminant genome sequencing provides insights into their evolution and distinct traits". Science. 364 (6446): eaav6202. Bibcode: 2019Sci...364.6202C. doi: 10.1126/science.aav6202. PMID 31221828.

Volodina, Elena V.; Volodin, Ilya A.; Chelysheva, Elena V.; Frey, Roland (2018). "Hiss and snort call types of wild-living giraffes Giraffa camelopardalis: acoustic structure and context". BMC Research Notes. 11 (12): 12. doi: 10.1186/s13104-017-3103-x. PMC 5761111. PMID 29316966. a b Winter, Sven; Fennessy, Julian; Fennessy, Stephanie; Janke, Axel (1 July 2018). "Matrilineal population structure and distribution of the Angolan giraffe in the Namib desert and beyond". Ecological Genetics and Genomics. 7–8: 1–5. doi: 10.1016/j.egg.2018.03.003. ISSN 2405-9854. S2CID 90395544. In every way, it's intermediate," said study first author Melinda Danowitz, a medical student at the NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine. "It's completely between the two living species."a b Fennessy, S.; Fennessy, J.; Muller, Z.; Brown, M.; Marais, A. (2018). " Giraffa camelopardalis ssp. rothschildi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T174469A51140829. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T174469A51140829.en . Retrieved 19 November 2021. This article was originally published in 2010 and has been updated to coincide with World Giraffe Day on June 21. Muneza, A.; Doherty, J. B.; Hussein Ali, A.; Fennessy, J.; Marais, A.; O'Connor, D.; Wube, T. (2018). "Reticulated Giraffe". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T88420717A88420720.en.

Of course, being so lanky does have its disadvantages. Giraffes must awkwardly widen their stance and bend their heads down to drink out of a water hole, making them vulnerable to predators. a b Nowak, R.M. (1999). Walker's Mammals of the World. Volume 1. The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp.1086–1089. ISBN 978-0801857898. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023 . Retrieved 30 August 2021.a b c Fennessy, Julian; Bidon, Tobias; Reuss, Friederike; Kumar, Vikas; Elkan, Paul; Nilsson, Maria A.; Vamberger, Melita; Fritz, Uwe; Janke, Axel (2016). "Multi-locus Analyses reveal four giraffe species instead of one". Current Biology. 26 (18): 2543–2549. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.07.036. PMID 27618261. S2CID 3991170. Dagg, Ann Innis, and J. Bristol Foster (1982). The Giraffe: Its Biology, Behavior and Ecology. Malabar FL: Krieger Publishing Company. Exhibits". Al Ain Zoo. 25 February 2003. Archived from the original on 29 November 2011 . Retrieved 21 November 2011. Definition of CAMELOPARD". m-w.com. Encyclopædia Britannica: Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 25 April 2009 . Retrieved 3 September 2014. Wood, C. (7 March 2014). "Groovy giraffes…distinct bone structures keep these animals upright". Society for Experimental Biology. Archived from the original on 25 November 2018 . Retrieved 7 May 2014.

Müller, DW; Zerbe, P; Codron, D; Clauss, M; Hatt, JM (2011). "A long life among ruminants: giraffids and other special cases". Schweizer Archiv für Tierheilkunde. 153 (11): 515–519. doi: 10.1024/0036-7281/a000263. PMID 22045457. S2CID 10687135. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the okapi as endangered. This is because the rate of population decline is estimated to have exceeded 50 percent over the past 24 years. The population of reticulated giraffes G.c. reticulata has dropped by an alarming 80 percent in just 10 years, most likely due to poaching. They are no match for humans with guns; giraffes are shot or snared for their meat, hide, bone marrow, and tail hair. Kenya is starting a giraffe conservation program for the three subspecies found there: reticulated, Uganda, and Masai giraffes G.c. tippelskirchi. Dehkhoda, Ali-akbar. "زراف". Dehkhoda Lexicon Institute and International Center for Persian Studies. Archived from the original on 28 December 2022 . Retrieved 28 December 2022.

a b Wube, T.; Doherty, J. B.; Fennessy, J.; Marais, A. (2018). " Giraffa camelopardalis ssp. camelopardalis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T88420707A88420710.en.

Nubian giraffe born in Al Ain zoo". UAE Interact. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012 . Retrieved 21 December 2010. Female okapis typically only give birth to one baby at a time. Birth comes after a gestation period of 14 to 16 months, and the young is born in a nest on the ground. The number of giraffes in a group can range from one up to 66 individuals. [89] [95] Giraffe groups tend to be sex-segregated [95] although mixed-sex groups made of adult females and young males also occur. [91] Female groups may be matrilineally related. [95] Generally females are more selective than males in who they associate with regarding individuals of the same sex. [94] Particularly stable giraffe groups are those made of mothers and their young, [91] which can last weeks or months. [99] Young males also form groups and will engage in playfights. However, as they get older, males become more solitary but may also associate in pairs or with female groups. [95] [99] Giraffes are not territorial, [19] but they have home ranges that vary according to rainfall and proximity to human settlements. [100] Male giraffes occasionally roam far from areas that they normally frequent. [34] :329 Lee, Derek E.; Bond, Monica L. (2016). "Precision, accuracy, and costs of survey methods for giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis". Journal of Mammalogy. 97 (3): 940–948. doi: 10.1093/jmammal/gyw025. S2CID 87384776. Rudgley, Richard The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Substances, pub. Abacus 1998 ISBN 0 349 11127 8 pps. 20–21.The name "giraffe" has its earliest known origins in the Arabic word zarāfah ( زرافة), [2] ultimately from Persian زُرنَاپَا‎ ( zurnāpā), a compound of زُرنَا‎ ( zurnā, “flute, zurna”) and پَا‎ ( pā, “leg”). [3] [4] In early Modern English the spellings jarraf and ziraph were used, probably directly from the Arabic, [5] and in Middle English jarraf and ziraph, gerfauntz. The Italian form giraffa arose in the 1590s. The modern English form developed around 1600 from the French girafe. [2] While the giraffe as we know it is native to Africa, more than 20-25 million years ago their ancestors also roamed along Europe and Asia. There aren’t many fossils of them, but some information has allowed scientists to come up with some evolution theories.