Northern giraffe are considered Vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN. In 2016, around 97,000 individuals from all subspecies were present in the wild. There are currently 5,195 northern giraffes. In the current IUCN taxonomic scheme there is only one species of giraffe with the name "G. camelopardalis" and nine subspecies. Three subspecies of northern giraffes are proposed. The giraffes have two horn-like protuberances known as ossicones on their foreheads. The northern giraffe's are longer and larger than that of the southern giraffes', though male northern giraffes have a third cylindrical ossicone in the center of the head just above the eyes which
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,