Samotherium 2015 study found that "Samotherium" had a neck intermediate in length between the giraffe and the okapi, judging from examination of specimens of "S. major" from Greece. Samotherium Samotherium ("beast of Samos") is an extinct genus of Giraffidae from the Miocene and Pliocene of Eurasia and Africa. "Samotherium" had two ossicones on its head, and long legs. The ossicones usually pointed upward, and were curved backwards, with males having larger, more curved ossicones, though, in the Chinese species, "S. sinense", the straight ossicones point laterally, not upwards. The genus is closely related to "Shansitherium". According to biologist Richard Ellis and
Giraffe deposits have been found in Libya. This animal was medium-sized, slender and antelope-like. "Giraffokeryx" appeared 15 mya in the Indian subcontinent and resembled an okapi or a small giraffe, and had a longer neck and similar ossicones. "Giraffokeryx" may have shared a clade with more massively built giraffids like "Sivatherium" and "Bramatherium". Giraffids like "Palaeotragus", "Shansitherium" and "Samotherium" appeared 14 mya and lived throughout Africa and Eurasia. These animals had bare ossicones and small cranial sinuses and were longer with broader skulls. "Paleotragus" resembled the okapi and may have been its ancestor. Others find that the okapi lineage diverged earlier,