Giraffes are a majestic sight in Africa with their long necks and distinctive spots. Now it turns out there are four different giraffe species on the continent, according to a new scientific analysis released Thursday. <\/p>\n
Researchers previously considered all giraffes across Africa to belong to a single species. New data and genetic studies have led a task force of the International Union for Conservation of Nature to split the tallest mammal on land into four groups \u2014 northern giraffes, reticulated giraffes, Masai giraffes and southern giraffes. <\/p>\n
Key studies have emerged in the past decade highlighting significant differences between the four species, said the IUCN\u2019s Michael Brown, a researcher in Windhoek, Namibia, who led the assessment.<\/p>\n
Naming different giraffes matters because \u201ceach species has different population sizes, threats and conservation needs,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you lump giraffes all together, it muddies the narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n
Northern giraffes \u2014 whose range includes parts of Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Central African Republic \u2014 face threats from political instability and poaching. Masai giraffes in Kenya and Tanzania face pressure from habitat loss, as open savannas are converted to cattle pastures and fields.<\/p>\n
Considering four giraffe species \u201cis absolutely the right decision, and it\u2019s long overdue,\u201d said Stuart Pimm, a Duke University ecologist who wasn\u2019t involved in the analysis.<\/p>\n
While in the past researchers scrutinized giraffes\u2019 spots, the new categories made use of newer methods including extensive analysis of genetic data and studies highlighting key anatomical differences, such as skull shape. <\/p>\n
What appear like horns sticking up from the foreheads of giraffes are actually permanent bony protrusions from the skull, different from deer antlers that are shed annually. <\/p>\n
Over the past 20 years, scientists have also gathered genetic samples from more than 2,000 giraffes across Africa to study the differences, said Stephanie Fennessy at the nonprofit Giraffe Conservation Foundation, who helped in the research.<\/p>\n
It used to cost tens of thousands of dollars to sequence each genome, but advances in technology have brought the cost down to about $100, making it more accessible to nonprofit and conservation groups, she said.<\/p>\n
According to population estimates from the foundation, the most endangered giraffe is the northern giraffe, with only about 7,000 individuals left in the wild.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of the most threatened large mammals in the world,\u201d said Fennessy.<\/p>\n
Southern giraffes are the most populous species, with around 69,000 individuals. There are around 21,000 reticulated giraffes left in the wild, and 44,000 Masai giraffes, according to the foundation. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf not all giraffes are the same, then we have to protect them individually,\u201d said Fennessy.<\/p>\n
Larson writes for the Associated Press. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute\u2019s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Giraffes are a majestic sight in Africa with their long necks and distinctive spots. Now it turns out…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":175289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[7779,99661,6352,815,88733,99659,88728,99657,99656,26298,99663,159,99662,99660,74304,99658,14166,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-175288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-distinctive-spot","10":"tag-genetic-study","11":"tag-genetics","12":"tag-giraffe","13":"tag-many-giraffe-specie","14":"tag-masai-giraffe","15":"tag-new-scientific-analysis","16":"tag-northern-giraffe","17":"tag-researcher","18":"tag-reticulated-giraffe","19":"tag-science","20":"tag-significant-difference","21":"tag-southern-giraffe","22":"tag-specie","23":"tag-stephanie-fennessy","24":"tag-threat","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115091456886822191","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}