Giraffes are ruminant ungulates and the tallest land animals in the world. They originated in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Ancient African legends say that God created all the animals before deciding to create the giraffe, thus using scraps—leopard skin, the speed of an antelope, and the head and legs of a camel—to piece together the giraffe. The ancient Greeks believed the giraffe was a hybrid of a camel and a leopard, hence the name "camel-leopard."
In the ancient evolutionary period, giraffes were only the size of deer. They roamed much of Europe, Asia, and Africa for 25 million years. By the time they evolved into the giraffes we know today, they had been pushed to Africa.
