You thought giraffes were weird already. Wait until you meet their cousins.

Time Stamps:
0:00 – Introduction
0:43 – The Earliest Known Relatives
2:38 – The Butterfly Giraffe
4:12 – The Hardest Head Of All
6:22 – Where Did The Long Neck Come From?

Music – “Ave Marimba” Kevin MacLeod

Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the copyright act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favour of fair use.

References:
Palaeomerycidae
Prothero, D.R., Liter, M.R. and Foss, S.E., 2007. Family palaeomerycidae. The evolution of artiodactyls, pp.241-248.
Sánchez, I.M., Cantalapiedra, J.L., Ríos, M., Quiralte, V. and Morales, J., 2015. Systematics and evolution of the Miocene three-horned palaeomerycid ruminants (Mammalia, Cetartiodactyla). PLoS One, 10(12), p.e0143034.
Prolibytherium:
Black. R., 2015. Paleo Profile: Pakistan’s Butterfly-Faced Beast. Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/sc…
Danowitz, M., Domalski, R. and Solounias, N., 2016. A new species of Prolibytherium (Ruminantia, Mammalia) from Pakistan, and the functional implications of an atypical atlanto-occipital morphology. Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 23, pp.201-207.
Sánchez, I.M., Quiralte, V., Morales, J., Azanza, B. and Pickford, M., 2010. Sexual dimorphism of the frontal appendages of the early Miocene African pecoran Prolibytherium Arambourg, 1961 (Mammalia, Ruminantia). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 30(4), pp.1306-1310.q.
Discokeryx:
Wang, S.Q., Ye, J., Meng, J., Li, C., Costeur, L., Mennecart, B., Zhang, C., Zhang, J., Aiglstorfer, M., Wang, Y. and Wu, Y., 2022. Sexual selection promotes giraffoid head-neck evolution and ecological adaptation. Science, 376(6597), p.eabl8316.
PBS Eons., 2023. Why The Giraffe Got Its Neck. Available at: • Why The Giraffe Got Its Neck
Samotherium:
Danowitz, M., Domalski, R. and Solounias, N., 2015. The cervical anatomy of Samotherium, an intermediate-necked giraffid. Royal Society Open Science, 2(11), p.150521.
Perkins, S., 2015. Odd creature was ancient ancestor of today’s giraffes. Available at: https://www.science.org/content/artic…
Others:
Chen, L., Qiu, Q., Jiang, Y.U., Wang, K., Lin, Z., Li, Z., Bibi, F., Yang, Y., Wang, J., Nie, W. and Su, W., 2019. Large-scale ruminant genome sequencing provides insights into their evolution and distinct traits. Science, 364(6446), p.eaav6202.
Scotese, C.R., Song, H., Mills, B.J. and van der Meer, D.G., 2021. Phanerozoic paleotemperatures: The earth’s changing climate during the last 540 million years. Earth-Science Reviews, 215, p.103503.

[…]