Giraffe

Open encyclopedia reference

The northern giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), also known as the three-horned giraffe, is a species of giraffe native to North Africa.

Once abundant throughout Africa since the 19th century, the Northern Giraffe ranged from Senegal, Mali and Nigeria from West Africa to up north in Egypt. The similar West African giraffe lived in Algeria and Morocco in ancient periods until their extinctions due to the Saharan dry climate.

Giraffes collectively are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, as the global population is thought to consist of about 97,000 individuals as of 2016.

Wikipedia contributors, Northern giraffe; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T01:24:25.450207+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Giraffa camelopardalis (Linnaeus, 1758)

Name authority

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Common name

Giraffe

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Artiodactyla

Family

Giraffidae

Genus

Giraffa

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderArtiodactyla Owen, 1848
12. familyGiraffidae Gray, 1821
13. genusGiraffa Brisson, 1762
14. speciesGiraffa camelopardalis (Linnaeus, 1758)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Giraffa. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 5 records assigned to Giraffidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=625036 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:3G3KN. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.