I.

Introduction

Giraffe, the tallest living animal, instantly recognizable by its exceptionally long neck. Male giraffes average about 5.3 m (17 ft) high, but some grow to a height of almost 6 m (20 ft)—tall enough to span two floors of a typical office building. Giraffes live in tree-scattered terrain in Africa.

The giraffe is the better known of two species in the giraffe family. The other species is the okapi, an animal that was not even discovered by scientists until about 1900. Although much shorter than the giraffe, the okapi also has a long neck and eats leaves, and both animals have long tongues and skin-covered horns. The giraffe’s ancestors first appeared in central Asia about 15 million years ago, but the earliest fossil records of the giraffe itself, from Israel and Africa, date back about 1.5 million years.