The Giraffidae are a family of ruminant artiodactyl mammals that share a recent common ancestor with deer and bovids.

The two genera 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.

[1] Tragulidae Antilocapridae Giraffidae Cervidae Bovidae Moschidae The ancestors of pronghorn diverged from the giraffids in the Early Miocene.

[1] This was in part of a relatively late mammal diversification following a climate change that transformed subtropical woodlands into open savannah grasslands.

[5] While the current range of giraffids today is in Africa, the fossil record of the group has shown this family was once widespread throughout of Eurasia.

[8] The extant giraffids, the forest-dwelling okapi and the savannah-living giraffe, have several features in common, including a pair of skin-covered horns, called ossicones, up to 15 cm (5.9 in) long (absent in female okapis); a long, black, prehensile tongue; lobed canine teeth; patterned coats acting as camouflage; and a back sloping towards the rear.

Although the range of the giraffe is considerably larger, it once covered an area twice the present size – all parts of Africa that could offer an arid and dry landscape furnished with trees.