Giraffes are also threatened by the proliferation of disease, including a lesion-inducing skin disease that is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as inbreeding (a result of populations’ inability to intermix due to habitat fragmentation) and the increased frequency and magnitude of droughts associated with climate change. If you explained it through the application of a basic Darwinian methodology, the giraffes developed a unique ecological niche through the evolution of a long neck by experiencing gradual anatomical changes that allowed them to reach resources, in this case, leaves, that were higher and unattainable to other species. The giraffe, or giraffa camelopardalis, is endangered due to habitat loss, the breaking up of habitat areas, the lack of suitability in existing habitats, poaching and new human population growth. There are nine subspecies of giraffes and all are en… When CITES confers conservation status on a species, it restricts the international trade in that creature. Their proposal would ensure that all traded giraffe parts were legally acquired and not taken from poached giraffes. We are working hard to improve our content. There is a newer hypothesis that addresses these questions and also reminds us that the ability to find a mate is not always reliant on our ability to feed ourselves, but to be attractive to the opposite sex. According to data provided by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the giraffe population has been in declined since 1985. They are instantly recognizable. Famously, early evolutionary biologist Jean Baptiste Lamarck used giraffes as an example of his theories, that, if an animal needed to adapt to suit its environment, it could do so within its own lifetime. In the wild, giraffes have few predators aside from humans. The theory rests on the idea that the ability to not rely on high competition vegetation that was lower to the ground gave the giraffes with longer necks the ability to be be healthy, reproduce, and transmit those long-necked genes to their offspring. Female giraffes give birth standing up and within 30 minutes, offspring are standing and then running only hours later. Giraffes are not classified as an endangered species. In the wild, they can be found in a number of differently protected areas, from government-run national parks to private or communal lands. Poaching of elephants and rhinoceros and the illegal trade … They were such an iconic part of the African landscape that it was assumed they were in no danger and little focus was paid to research and protection. How Can Endangered Species Be on Both IUCN’s Red List and the New Green List. One of the biggest sellers is giraffe bone, which has become a replacement for elephant ivory in knife and gun handles. The remaining herds are fragmented and face a multitude of threats, from habitat loss to poaching. Giraffes are curiously ungainly animals. Giraffes, the world’s tallest land mammals and a majestic sight in zoos and reserves everywhere, are being threatened with extinction because of illegal hunting and a decline in their natural habitat, a report says.. Around half of the giraffes in Africa today are Masai giraffes. At any given moment, even a modestly savvy internet shopper can find thousands of products made from giraffe parts online. Giraffe populations are dwindling. Though it was thought that the giraffe has a “huge” heart to accomplish all this pumping and beating, it actually has a relatively small heart. While heavy machinery keeps spraying #monocrops with #pesticides and #fertilizers, millions of #family #farmers are applying agroecological approaches to redress those impacts and revive #rural areas. Sudan, which was home to some 13,000 giraffes in the early 1980s, now shelters a population numbering only in the hundreds; its war has increased wildlife trafficking and poaching. The declining numbers are due largely to poaching, habitat loss, human population growth and degradation of the giraffe's habitat. (It can be exceedingly difficult for a customs official to determine the age of a piece of elephant ivory or giraffe bone.). While giraffes don’t live in the wild in the United States, Pepper adds that “there are steps the government must take under the terms of U.S. law to protect them.” It’s important to acknowledge the iconic mammals are a favorite trophy target of hunters traveling to Africa; U.S. hunters imported 3,744 dead giraffes between 2006 and 2015. “Giraffes are undergoing a silent extinction, having declined 40 percent over the past 30 years, though few seem to know this,” Pepper says. 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