Giraffidae - Video Learning - WizScience.com

• published: 02 Sep 2015
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The "Giraffidae" are a biological family of ruminant artiodactyl mammals that share a common ancestor with deer and bovids. This family, once a diverse group spread throughout Eurasia and Africa, presently comprises only two extant members, the giraffe and the okapi . 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 species 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 . 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. There are two main groups of extinct giraffids: one group with robust limb bones, the Sivatheriinae, represented by "Sivatherium" during the Plio-Pleistocene, and another with long and slender limb bones classified in different subfamilies; either Giraffinae and Palaeotraginae or only Giraffinae then with two tribes, Giraffini and Palaeotragini. While "Giraffa" and "Palaeotragus" can be easily attributed to the latter group, the placement of "Okapia" and "Mitilanotherium" remains disputed. Wiz Science™ is "the" learning channel for children and all ages. SUBSCRIBE TODAY Disclaimer: This video is for your information only. The author or publisher does not guarantee the accuracy of the content presented in this video. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Background Music: "The Place Inside" by Silent Partner (royalty-free) from YouTube Audio Library. This video uses material/images from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giraffidae, which is released under Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ . This video is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ . To reuse/adapt the content in your own work, you must comply with the license terms.