https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:3904 Heads up-Four Giraffa species have distinct cranial morphology Kargopoulos, Nikolaos Nikolaos Kargopoulos 0000-0002-6471-151X Marugán-Lobón, Jesús Jesús Marugán-Lobón Chinsamy, Anusuya Anusuya Chinsamy Agwanda, Bernard R. Bernard R. Agwanda Brown, Michael Butler Michael Butler Brown Fennessy, Stephanie Stephanie Fennessy Ferguson, Sara Sara Ferguson Hoffman, Rigardt Rigardt Hoffman Lala, Fredrick Fredrick Lala Muneza, Arthur Arthur Muneza Mwebi, Ogeto Ogeto Mwebi Otiende, Moses Moses Otiende Petzold, Alice Alice Petzold Winter, Sven Sven Winter 0000-0002-1890-0977 University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna Zabeirou, Abdoul Razack Moussa Abdoul Razack Moussa Zabeirou Fennessy, Julian Julian Fennessy Public Library of Science journal article open access eng 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. Animals Skull Anatomy & Histology Giraffes Anatomy & Histology Giraffes Classification Male Female Phylogeny Species Specifity Sex Characteristics Biological Evolution http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/api/object/o:3904/download 10.1371/journal.pone.0315043 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:605 application/pdf Plos One issn:1932-6203 VoR Plos One 19 12 3.23 MB 2024