On the origin, evolution and phylogeny of giraffes Giraffa camelopardalis
@article{Mitchell2003OnTO, title={On the origin, evolution and phylogeny of giraffes Giraffa camelopardalis}, author={Graham Mitchell and John D. Skinner}, journal={Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa}, year={2003}, volume={58}, pages={51 - 73} }
The origin, phylogeny, and evolution of modem giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) is obscure. We review here the literature and conclude that the proximate ancestors of modern giraffes probably evolved in southern central Europe about 8 million years ago (Mya). These ancestors appear to have arisen from the gelocid ancestral assemblage of 20–25 Mya via the family Palaeomerycidae. From the palaeomerycids arose the Antilocaprinae (Pronghorns) via the subfamily Dromomerycinae, and two subfamilies of…
79 Citations
Fossil Giraffidae (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) from the late Miocene of Thermopigi (Macedonia, Greece)
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Palaeontologists have known about the fossiliferous site at Thermopigi (Central Macedonia, N. Greece) for the past two decades. Following the first field campaigns a wealth of new information on the…
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- Environmental Science
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Analysis of photos from across Africa reveals that where yearly bright sunshine is greater, female giraffe in particular tend to be lighter, resulting in sexual dichromatism in high insolarity locations, and hypothesised that dark pelage colour is maintained in males through sexual selection for a costly status signal.
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- EconomicsAfrican Journal of Ecology
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- BiologyBMC Evolutionary Biology
- 2014
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- BiologyRoyal Society Open Science
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Comprehensive anatomical descriptions and measurements of the almost-complete cervical column reveal that S. major is a truly intermediate-necked giraffid.
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- BiologyGigaScience
- 2019
An improved giraffe genome assembly is reported to facilitate evolutionary analysis of the giraffe and other ruminant genomes and provide a valuable resource for the study of artiodactyl evolution and for understanding the molecular basis of the unique adaptive traits of giraffes.
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- BiologyPloS one
- 2016
The artiodactyl astragalus has been modified to exhibit two trochleae, creating a double pullied structure allowing for significant dorso-plantar motion, and limited mediolateral motion. The…
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The results show that the elongated neck of the modern giraffe appears to specifically result from evolutionary changes affecting the seven cervical vertebrae, independent of the remainder of the vertebral column.
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