The giraffe lineage stretches back over 20 million years with an early ancestor named Canthumeryx living in Libya between 17 and 15 million years ago. Another relative called Giraffokeryx appeared on the Indian subcontinent around 15 to 12 million years ago.
A 2024 study found higher amounts of ancient gene flow than expected between populations while a 2025 IUCN decision officially accepted four species with seven subspecies. The three-species hypothesis recognizes G. camelopardalis, G. giraffa, and G. tippelskirchi but researchers now propose dividing them into four extant species distinguished by fur coat patterns.
Fully grown giraffes stand up to five meters tall with necks reaching two meters in length yet containing only seven vertebrae. Their heart weighs approximately eleven kilograms capable of generating double human blood pressure and has a wall as thick as fifteen centimeters.
The Kiffians created a life-size rock engraving of two giraffes dated eight thousand years ago which is called the world's largest rock art petroglyph. Ancient Egyptians also gave the giraffe its own hieroglyph sr in Old Egyptian and mmy in later periods.
Estimates as of 2016 indicate there are approximately ninety-seven thousand five hundred members of Giraffa in the wild. This number declined from an estimated one hundred fifty-five thousand in 1985 due to habitat loss and direct killing for bushmeat markets.