Okapi, which lacks these unique features, is giraffe’s closest relative and provides a useful comparison, to identify genetic variation underlying giraffe’s long neck and cardiovascular system.

An animal that looks like a cross between a horse, zebra and giraffe has been rediscovered where the species was first found a century ago, conservationists announced Friday. Delighted ...

A difference of as few as 70 genes led giraffes to distinguish themselves from their closest relative by their long necks, according to new research. Researchers behind the study, published in the ...

Call it a tall task: researchers have decoded the genomes of the giraffe and its closest relative, the okapi. The sequences, published on May 17 in Nature Communications, reveal clues to the age ...

An okapi is the giraffe’s closest relative, but only grow to be about 8 feet long. Masai giraffes, by contrast, can grow up to 18 feet. Okapis also lack the giraffe’s standout features of a ...

“The fact that okapi, giraffe’s closest relative, use its head as both a club and for head-butting, says to me that head-butting and neck-fighting behaviors are not fundamentally ...

The giraffe's neck as made us reconsider our ... but it had two features that might help you guess its closest living relatives. On top of its head were two bony structures, called ossicones ...

Researchers compiled the genetic instruction book, or genome, for both the giraffe and the okapi, its short-necked closest living relative. Those two species’ most recent common ancestor lived ...

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Here’s how it works. Nearly 17 million years ago, a relative of modern giraffes that roamed northern China sported a thick, stumpy neck and a thick skull — perfect for sparring with rival ...