Top 10 similar words or synonyms for giraffe

hippopotamus    0.798825

rhinoceros    0.743582

parrot    0.738996

tortoise    0.736946

giraffes    0.717136

crocodile    0.714631

koala    0.707498

dachshund    0.706554

hyena    0.696447

ostrich    0.691228

Top 30 analogous words or synonyms for giraffe

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Giraffe The giraffe ("Giraffa") is a genus of African even-toed ungulate mammals, the tallest living terrestrial animals and the largest ruminants. The genus consists of eleven or more species including "Giraffa camelopardalis", the type species. Seven of these species are extinct, prehistoric species known from fossils, though numerous subspecies have been described and its taxonomy is not definitively set. Indeed, research into the mitochondrial and nuclear DNA of "Giraffa" has suggested to recognize four to six distinct extant species. The four-species taxonomic classification, proposed in 2016 but criticized since then, has the genus "Giraffa" composed of the species "Giraffa giraffa" (southern giraffe), "Giraffa tippelskirchi" (Masai giraffe), "Giraffa reticulata" (reticulated giraffe) and "Giraffa camelopardalis" (northern giraffe).
Giraffe In the early 19th century, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck believed the giraffe's long neck was an "acquired characteristic", developed as generations of ancestral giraffes strove to reach the leaves of tall trees. This theory was eventually rejected, and scientists now believe the giraffe's neck arose through Darwinian natural selection—that ancestral giraffes with long necks thereby had a competitive feeding advantage (competing browsers hypothesis) that better enabled them to survive and reproduce to pass on their genes.
Giraffe A 2016 study also concluded that living giraffes consist of multiple species. The researchers suggested the existence of four species, which have not exchanged genetic information between each other for 1 million to 2 million years. Those four species are the northern giraffe ("Giraffa camelopardalis"), southern giraffe ("Giraffa giraffa"), reticulated giraffe ("Giraffa reticulata"), and Masai giraffe ("Giraffa tippelskirchi"). Both southern and northern giraffe have two and three distinct subspecies respectively; Angolan giraffe ("G. g. angolensis") and South African giraffe ("G. g. giraffa") for southern giraffe, and the Kordofan giraffe ("G. c. antiquorum"), Nubian giraffe ("G. c. camelopardalis") and West African giraffe ("G. c. peralta") for northern giraffe. Since then, a response to this publication has been published, highlighting seven problems in data interpretation, and concludes "the conclusions should not be accepted unconditionally".In this analysis, four species and five subspecies of giraffe are recognized (with population estimates ). Two former subspecies (Rothschild's giraffe and Rhodesian giraffe) are also included.
Giraffe The giraffe's neck vertebrae have ball and socket joints. In particular, the atlas–axis joint (C1 and C2) allows the animal to tilt its head vertically and reach more branches with the tongue. The point of articulation between the cervical and thoracic vertebrae of giraffes is shifted to lie between the first and second thoracic vertebrae (T1 and T2), unlike most other ruminants where the articulation is between the seventh cervical vertebra (C7) and T1. This allows C7 to contribute directly to increased neck length and has given rise to the suggestion that T1 is actually C8, and that giraffes have added an extra cervical vertebra. However, this proposition is not generally accepted, as T1 has other morphological features, such as an articulating rib, deemed diagnostic of thoracic vertebrae, and because exceptions to the mammalian limit of seven cervical vertebrae are generally characterised by increased neurological anomalies and maladies.
Giraffe Another theory, the sexual selection hypothesis, proposes that the long necks evolved as a secondary sexual characteristic, giving males an advantage in "necking" contests (see below) to establish dominance and obtain access to sexually receptive females. In support of this theory, necks are longer and heavier for males than females of the same age, and the former do not employ other forms of combat. However, one objection is that it fails to explain why female giraffes also have long necks. It has also been proposed that the neck serves to give the animal greater vigilance.