Nikolaos Kargopoulos Nikolaos Kargopoulos Jesús Marugán-Lobón Jesús Marugán-Lobón Anusuya Chinsamy Anusuya Chinsamy Bernard R. Agwanda Bernard R. Agwanda Michael Butler Brown Michael Butler Brown Stephanie Fennessy Stephanie Fennessy Sara Ferguson Sara Ferguson Rigardt Hoffman Rigardt Hoffman Fredrick Lala Fredrick Lala Arthur Muneza Arthur Muneza Ogeto Mwebi Ogeto Mwebi Moses Otiende Moses Otiende Alice Petzold Alice Petzold Sven Winter Sven Winter Abdoul Razack Moussa Zabeirou Abdoul Razack Moussa Zabeirou Julian Fennessy Julian Fennessy Public Library of Science 2024 Giraffe (Giraffa spp.) are among the most unique extant mammals in terms of anatomy, phylogeny, and ecology. However, aspects of their evolution, ontogeny, and taxonomy are unresolved, retaining lingering questions that are pivotal for their conservation. We assembled the largest known dataset of Giraffa skulls (n = 515) to investigate patterns of cranial variability using 3D geometric morphometrics. The results show distinct sexual dimorphism and divergent ontogenetic trajectories of skull shape for the north clade (G. camelopardalis antiquorum, G. c. camelopardalis, G. c. peralta, and G. reticulata) and the south clade (G. giraffa angolensis, G. g. giraffa, G. tippelskirchi tippelskirchi, and G. t. thornicrofti) which was further supported statistically. Discriminant functions found statistically significant cranial shape differences between all four Giraffa species, and in some cases also between subspecies of the same species. Our 3D morphometric analysis shows that the four genetically distinct Giraffa spp. also have distinct cranial morphologies, largely addressable to features of display (ossicones). Our results highlight the importance of focusing future giraffe conservation efforts on each taxon to maintain their unique characteristics and biodiversity in the wild. PDFDocument eng 2025-03-07T10:01:39.818996Z 2024 Animals Skull Anatomy & Histology Giraffes Anatomy & Histology Giraffes Classification Male Female Phylogeny Species Specifity Sex Characteristics Biological Evolution 3391055 b application/pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/