Giraffes more speciose than expected

Scientists from Senckenburgand the Giraffe Conservation Foundation have been studying the genetic relationships of the major populations of wild giraffes.  Before the study, there were only one type of giraffe.  During this sutdy, the genetic makeup of giraffe points toward four different species.  With the knowledge of these four distinct species, the need of protection of these animals gain a great importance to save them.

To me, and many of you, giraffes all look very much the same with body structure, horns, and patterns on their skin.  These are also some of the ways science previously catagorize these animals with others.  After the founding of the different species of giraffe, Professor Axel Janke mentions that these different species don't even mate with each other.  The four types of giraffes are Southern giraffe, Masai giraffe, reticulated giraffe, and the northern giraffe.

This new knowledge of the different giraffes comes a greater urgency to save, not only the less than 100,000 giraffes in Africa, but all of the different species of giraffes.  Two of the four species of giraffes are estimated below 10,000 individual giraffes left.  The Giraffe Conservative Foundation (GCF) estimates that there are mabe as few as 400 West African giraffe remaining in the wild today.  There is now a growing need to help protect the different species of giraffe in Africa.

This is very interesting to me because I would have never guessed that there were different species of giraffe.  It's a bit crazy to think that giraffes have never really been studied in depth before because every zoo that I can think of, has at least one giraffe in it.  I do understand that there is a difference between a giraffe in a zoo and a wild giraffe, but the idea of not studying it is still there.  Now scientists have studied these creatures and have relized that there are fewer now then 30 years ago, there's a push for trying to help these animals.

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2016/09/08/giraffes_more_speciose_than_expected.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+biologynews%2Fheadlines+%28Biology+News+Net%29