For more than 260 years, scientists have consider giraffes a single species. Giraffa camelopardalis, as it was long known, existed across thousands of miles of African grasslands and woodlands.
But scientists now see giraffes differently. One species is officially four, the International Union for Conservation of Nature announced on Thursday. Conservation biologists will now evaluate the status of each; preliminary data suggest three of the species are threatened with extinction.
“A giraffe is not a giraffe, so to speak,” said Michael Brown, an author of the assessment. “Now we have four different species, each with their own narrative. This has some dramatic implications for how we view giraffe conservation across Africa.”
It’s easy to tell giraffes apart from other mammals, thanks to their magnificently long necks. But other, subtle differences set giraffes apart from one another. By the 1800s, for instance, European zoologists who examined giraffe hides that were shipped to museums were noting distinctive patterns and colors among them.
Giraffes in different regions appeared to have distinctive coats, leading some researchers to argue that the species contained eight or nine subspecies — populations that could be distinguished from one another but could still interbreed.
In the 20th century, giraffes suffered a worrisome decline. Rinderpest, a virus that infected cattle in Africa, wiped out many giraffe populations. Fences and roads chopped up their habitat, and poachers killed many of the animals. From 1985 to 2015, the giraffe population declined about 40 percent.
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The post Scientists Split Giraffes Into Four Species. Three Are in Trouble. appeared first on New York Times.
