A species
Giraffe
Giraffa camelopardalis
Seven neck bones, each enormous
You and the giraffe last shared an ancestor about 95 million years ago (on 23 December, if life's history were one year).
Your neck and a giraffe's neck hold the same number of bones: seven. Each neck bone is enormous, the biggest over 25 centimetres long, building a neck about 1.8 to 2.4 metres long. Big males stand up to about 5.7 metres, tall enough to look into a two-storey window, on legs that are each taller than many grown-ups. That makes giraffes the world's tallest mammal.
It may surprise you that this spotted giant is a distant cousin of cows and sheep. Giraffes belong to the even-toed hoofed mammals. They have cloven hooves with two toes on each foot. Their neighbours on the tree are the group holding hippos and whales, which shows how wide this group is. Outside the giraffes, the closest living relative is the okapi.
Giraffes roam dry African savanna south of the Sahara in small groups of about six, munching leaves and buds high in the treetops for most of the day. Like cows, they bring food back up to chew again as cud. The coat is often cream with large brown blotches about the size of a side plate. Shades vary from light tan to almost black, and no two patterns match.
A half-metre tongue
The tongue is about 50 centimetres long and dark blue-black towards the tip. It curls around branches to strip leaves from thorny acacia trees.
A huge heart and lungs
The heart is about 60 centimetres long and weighs about 11 kilograms. The lungs hold about 55 litres of air.
Surprisingly fast runner
Giraffes can run at about 55 kilometres per hour over short bursts. They cruise at about 16 kilometres per hour over longer distances.