- One of the most unlikely animals to be found in the sky is a giraffe. The Greeks called giraffes ‘camel leopards’ because of their long necks and spots, which is where the name Camelopardalis comes from. However, the constellation Camelopardalis was not invented by the Greeks but by the Dutch theologian and astronomer Petrus Plancius in 1612. Plancius first showed it on a celestial globe in that year along with another odd constellation that is still recognized, Monoceros.