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Pliny writes about a creature that we now refer to as a giraffe:
Two other kinds of beasts there be, that resemble in some sort, the Camels: the one is called of the Æthyopians, the Nabis, necked like an horse, for legge and foot not unlike the boeufe, headed for all the world as a camell, beset with white spots upon a red ground, whereupon it taketh the name of Camelopardalus: & the first time that it was seen at Rome, was in the games Circenses set out by Cæsar Dictatour: since which time, hee commethh now and then to Rome, to be looked upon more for sight than for any wild nature that he hath: whereupon some have given her the name of a Savage sheepe.
See also Caesar's Giraffe, The giraffes that sailed to medieval China, Exotics in Post-Medieval European Art: Giraffes and Centaurs, and Medieval Bestiary: Giraffe.
- The Lod Giraffe, a mosaic floor c. 300
- A giraffe, Manāfiʻ-i ḥayavān (PML M.500, fol. 16r), c. 1297-1300
- Camelus pardalis, Der Naturen Bloeme (KB KA 16, fol. 50v), c. 1350
- Tribute Giraffe with Attendant, Ming Dynasty China, 1414
There also ben many Bestes, that ben clept Orafles. In Arabye, thei ben clept Gerfauntz; that is a Best pomelee or spotted; that is but a litylle more highe, than is a Stede: but he hathe the Necke a 20 Cubytes long: and his Croup and his Tayl is as of an Hert: and he may loken over a gret high Hous.
The Travels of Sir John Mandeville - A giraffe, the Travels of Sir John Mandeville (British Library Royal 17 C XXXVIII, fol. 57), c. 1410-1420
- Camelus pardalis, Der Naturen Bloeme (KB 76 E 4, fol. 13rb1), c. 1450-1500
- Drawings of a giraffe and an elephant (Canon. Misc. 280, fol. 69a recto), 1474
- Opus transmarine peregrinationis: Animals in the Holy Land, 1486
- Adoration of the Magi by Domenico Ghirlandaio, c. 1486-1490
- An Egyptian giraffe and a long-haired dog (Lat. misc. d. 85, fol. 73r), end of the 15th century
- Left wing of the Triptych of the Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, c. 1500
- A tapestry with a giraffe caravan (V&A 375-1906), c. 1500-1515
- Orpheus by Baldassare Peruzzi, c. 1500-1520
- Girafa: A giraffe, held by a lead by a man in a pointed hat, standing before two pyramids, c. 1500-1550
- Drawing with a circular building and a loggia with a giraffe, from the Aspertini album (British Museum 1862,0712.406, fol. 13v), c. 1530-1540
- The Gathering of Manna by Bacchiacca, c. 1540-1555
- The Feast of the Gods, 1575
- Friezes with Wild and Tame Animals, 1578
- Maiolica plate with the Triumph of Bacchus in India, 16th century
- Animalium Quadrupedum: A giraffe, a chameleon, a civet and and antelope, c. 1597
- A tent-stitched panel (V&A T.30-1947) made in Britain in the 16th century
Hence then it appeares, that the negative testimony of Michovius is not sufficient to overthrow the received opinion of the Ancients concerning Griffins, especially seeing there is a possibility in nature for such a compounded animall. For the Gyraffa, or Camelopardalis, is of a stranger composition, being made of the Libbard, Buffe, Hart, and Camell. Alexander Ross, Arcana Microcosmi - The Camelpard (De Camelopardali) and Kamelpferd by Conrad Gessner
- A giraffe with two keepers (Met 47.18.21), Qing dynasty China
- Drawing of a giraffe (?), 17th century
- Animalium Quadrupedum: A giraffe, a chameleon, a civet, and an antelope, c. 1633-1679
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