The giraffe is a ruminant mammal and the tallest animal in the world (average height for males is about 5 m or 16 ft). Giraffes include about 40 extinct species and the living okapi of the west African rainforest. In most species the neck was either short as in the okapi or long as in the extinct Samotherium. In no species was the neck as long as in the modern giraffe.