Paul Smith: Questions: Do giraffes and okapis have the same number of neck vertebrae?
Bonz: Yup. Same as you and I or your dog do. Splifford (patjames): So far as I know, all mammals have seven neck vertebrae. Some merely have longer neck vertebrae than others. Other vertebrates don’t seem to have this limitation. Some birds have a dozen and more neck vertebrae. mel turner: Nearly all mammals have seven. Oddly, most of the exceptions are in the group including the sloths and anteaters. The range there is 5 to nine, depending on the species. The only other exception I know about are manatees, with 6. In some vertebrate groups like plesiosaurs, longer necks involved forming more numerous vertebrae. In giraffes, the same ancestral number of vertebrae were elongated. howard hershey: All mammals with the exception of (I believe I remember this correctly) the sloths have seven cervical vertebrae. Sparrows, on the other hand, have significantly more than 7 (the number 23 rings a bell, but I would not swear to it). The okapi and giraffe certainly do have the same number of neck
