Giraffes given greater protection from unregulated trade as numbers fall

22nd August 2019

Giraffe conservation has taken a big step forward with the world's tallest mammals receiving enhanced protection from unregulated trade.

The move will regulate the trade in giraffes and their body parts under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).

The vote was overwhelmingly approved, although some countries opposed it.

Giraffe numbers in Africa have fallen by 40% in the past 30 years, in what is being called a "silent extinction".

The mammals are largely targeted for bushmeat but body parts are also used to make products including jewellery, bracelets and purses, the proposal stated.

The motion came from the Central African Republic, Chad, Kenya, Mali, Niger and Senegal, where giraffe populations have been diminishing heavily.

But there was resistance from southern African countries, including South Africa, Botswana and Tanzania, where giraffes have fared better.

They argued that there was scant evidence to suggest international trade was contributing to the decline of the giraffe.

Despite the opposition, 106 parties voted in favour of the motion, 21 voted against, with seven abstentions.

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Human activity likely affects giraffe's social networks

AUGUST 7, 2019

by Wiley

In a new Ethology study, researchers examined information on two adjacent giraffe populations in Kenya to determine whether human activities and high predation affect their social networks.

One study site was a premier tourist destination with a high volume of human activity in the form of tourist traffic and lodges, alongside a high density of lions that preferentially prey on giraffe calves. The other was a private wildlife conservancy with minimal human activity and no lion population.

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Let's talk about gay penguins: Munich zoo joins Pride week

JULY 13, 2019

by Pauline Curtet

Biologists say giraffes are bisexual. In some groups, 90 percent of the acts observed are in fact homosexual in nature

Organisers of this year's Gay Pride week in Munich have a group of rather wild partners—penguins, giraffes and lions at the city zoo where tours are being run about same-sex love in the animal kingdom.

The Munich zoo has joined Pride week with an unusual look into the intimate lives of all creatures great and small, seeking to boost tolerance among humans.

"It is important for us to talk about" homosexuality in the animal kingdom and show that same-sex love has its place in Nature, said Munich zoo spokesman Dennis Spaeth.

"Because unfortunately in Germany we see more and more people from the reactionary right attacking LGBTQI rights."

While even mostly-Catholic Bavaria has grown more accepting and lawmakers legalised gay marriage in 2017, non-heterosexuals are sometimes still a target for violence.

Police recorded 91 attacks based on the victim's sexual orientation last year.

In the safe confines of the zoo, the first stop on the Pride tour is the giraffes. The blotchy animals spare visitors only occasional curious glances from behind their long eyelashes as they enjoy a meal of hay.

"Giraffes are bisexual. In some groups, 90 percent of the acts observed are in fact homosexual in nature," explained biologist Guenter Strauss.

The Munich zoo has joined Pride week with an unusual look into the intimate lives of all creatures great and small, seeking to boost tolerance among humans

A few enclosures down, there is little to distinguish a male-male couple of black-faced Humboldt penguins squatting together from other, mixed pairs.

That is until the guide points out that with no egg to care for, the pair has taken to brooding a rock instead.

This is no one-off fling, as "penguins conduct homosexual relationships that can last a whole lifetime, something very rare in the animal kingdom," said Strauss.

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A skin disease spreading in wild giraffes may be a parasitic attack

JULY 12, 2019

by Genevieve Rajewski, Tufts University

Besides their graceful long necks and legs, giraffes are most recognizable by their distinctive spots. Now, conservationists are concerned about a different sort of spots on giraffes, made up of dead tissue and crusty sores that ooze blood or pus.

First seen in wild African giraffes in the 1990s but also observed in captive animals, giraffe skin disease likely is made up of multiple diseases that have been lumped together under one name. "It's still too soon to tell," said Cummings School Research Assistant Professor Chris Whittier, V97. "There are probably several possible pathogens involved."

The resulting unsightly condition doesn't appear life-threatening by itself. But conservationists worry that it may compromise the animals' overall health and affect reproduction, leading to population declines, which they can't afford.

"Universally, giraffes are very much in decline, primarily from habitat loss but also from poaching," said Whittier, director of Tufts' master's in conservation medicine program. "We can't ignore secondary threats, such as infectious diseases, because any little thing could become an extinction-level event when there aren't many individuals of certain species left." (For just such an example, read how a viral goat disease nearly decimated an endangered subspecies of antelope.)

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Human settlements and rainfall affect giraffe home ranges

Date:  February 27, 2019

Source:  Penn State

Giraffes that live close to densely populated towns have larger home ranges than giraffes that live far from towns, according to a new study by an international team of wildlife researchers from the University of Zürich, Penn State, and the Wild Nature Institute. This suggests that the giraffes in human-impacted areas need to travel longer distances -- and expend more energy -- to obtain critical resources. The researchers found that average rainfall also impacts giraffe home ranges, which are smaller in areas with more rain. The study was published February 22, 2019 in the journal Animal Behaviour.

"Giraffes are huge browsing animals that live in African savanna ecosystems where they must find everything they need to survive and reproduce in landscapes increasingly impacted by human activities," said Derek E. Lee, associate research professor of biology at Penn State and principal scientist of the Wild Nature Institute. "People are converting natural savannas to towns and farms, and cutting trees for fuelwood and charcoal industries, all of which potentially degrade giraffe habitat."

The team quantified home range sizes -- the spatial area over which an animal repeatedly travels in search of food, water, shelter and mates -- for 71 adult giraffes from data collected over six years in the spatially heterogeneous Tarangire Ecosystem of Tanzania. They examined correlations between individual home range sizes and environmental and anthropogenic -- human related -- factors, to better understand the mechanisms driving space use of this threatened megaherbivore.

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Giraffe babies inherit spot patterns from their mothers

Date:  October 2, 2018

Source:  Penn State

Some features of a giraffe's spot pattern are passed on from mother to baby, according to a new study led by researchers from Penn State. The study also reveals that survival of young giraffes is related to spot pattern, which may help provide camouflage from predators. The new study, published October 2 in the journal PeerJ, confirms a 49-year-old hypothesis about the inheritance of giraffe spots and highlights a new toolset that can be used to study the markings of wild animals.

"Giraffe spot patterns are complex and can be quite different among individuals, but we don't really know their purpose in the wild," said Derek E. Lee, associate research professor at Penn State and first author of the paper. "Complex markings can help animals evade predators, regulate their temperature, or recognize family or individuals, all of which can affect their ability to survive and reproduce. In this study, we analyzed survival records and photos of spots of Masai giraffes, and show that spot patterns do affect juvenile survival and are heritable -- they are passed from mom to baby."

Giraffe skin color is uniformly dark gray, but their spots are highly variable in color and shape, ranging from nearly round with very smooth edges to elliptical with jagged or lobed edges. Spot patterns do not change as an animal ages, which allows researchers to identify individuals based on their unique patterns.

This study revealed that newborn giraffes with larger spots and irregularly shaped spots also had increased survival during the first few months of life. This increased survival could reflect better camouflage of these young giraffes, but it also could be related to other survival-enhancing factors, such as temperature regulation or visual communication.

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Giraffes surprise biologists yet again

Date:  May 18, 2018

Source:  University of Bristol

New research from the University of Bristol has highlighted how little we know about giraffe behaviour and ecology.

It is commonly accepted that group sizes of animals increase when there is a risk of predation, since larger group sizes reduce the risk of individuals being killed, and there are 'many eyes' to spot any potential predation risk.

Now, in the first study of its kind, Bristol PhD student Zoe Muller from the School of Biological Sciences has found that this is not true for giraffes, and that the size of giraffe groups is not influenced by the presence of predators.

Zoe Muller said: "This is surprising, and highlights how little we know about even the most basic aspects of giraffe behaviour."

This study investigates how the grouping behaviour of giraffes differed in response to numerous factors, such as predation risk, habitat type and the characteristics of individuals.

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Impact of lions living alongside giraffe populations

Date:  January 3, 2018

Source:  University of Bristol

Summary:

New research is calling for an urgent review into how populations of giraffes are managed in the wild when living alongside lions.

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Do Giraffes Get Struck by Lightning More Than Other Animals?

By Ross Pomeroy, RealClearScience | June 25, 2017 09:24am ET 

Two months ago, Reddit user infernograve woke from a vivid dream. As wakefulness crept back, the dream did not recede, rather, it stuck in his mind, piquing his curiosity and prompting a burning question. He subsequently logged into Reddit's popular AskScience subreddit to share it:

"Do giraffes get struck by lightning more often than other animals?"

The question is now the most popular ever asked on the forum.

So do giraffes get struck by lightning at higher rates? Intuitively, the obvious answer is "yes." Standing between fourteen and nineteen feet tall when fully grown, giraffes tower above the savannah and open woodland landscapes where they dwell. Of course, lightning doesn't always strike the tallest object in an area, but taller objects are more susceptible due to the shorter gap between the object and the lightning's point of origin.

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Giraffes must be listed as endangered, conservationists formally tell US

Five environmental groups point to ‘trophy’ hunting – largely by Americans who travel to Africa – among key threats to animals

Oliver Milman

Wednesday 19 April 2017 05.01 BST Last modified on Wednesday 19 April 2017 05.02 BST

Conservationists have lodged a formal request for the US government to list giraffes as endangered in a bid to prevent what they call the “silent extinction” of the world’s tallest land animal.

A legal petition filed by five environmental groups has demanded that the US Fish and Wildlife Service provide endangered species protections to the giraffe, which has suffered a precipitous decline in numbers in recent years.

According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which listed giraffes as a threatened species in December, just 97,500 of the animals exist in sub-Saharan Africa today, a drop of almost 40% since 1985. There are now fewer giraffes than elephants in Africa.

Giraffes have suffered from loss of habitat, disease and illegal hunting for bushmeat. They also face the risk of collisions with vehicles and power lines. But the petitioners argue that the species is facing added pressure from “trophy” hunters who travel to Africa to shoot their big-game quarry. These hunters overwhelmingly come from the US.

According to the groups’ analysis of import data, Americans imported 21,402 bone carvings, 3,008 skin pieces and 3,744 miscellaneous hunting trophies from giraffes over the past decade. At least 3,700 individual giraffes are thought to have been killed for such items.

An endangered species listing would place heavy restrictions on any American hunter wishing to travel to Africa and bring back a slaughtered giraffe. A hunter would have to somehow demonstrate the taking of the giraffe trophy was helping sustain the species.

The petition states that the US is “uniquely positioned to help conserve these tall, graceful and iconic animals”.



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Giraffes facing extinction after devastating decline, experts warn

Latest update to the red list of threatened species shows world’s tallest animal is on the brink, but some good news for Madagascan freshwater fish


Damian Carrington

Thursday 8 December 2016 06.00 GMT

The world’s tallest animal is at risk of extinction after suffering a devastating decline in numbers, with nearly 40% of giraffes lost in the last 30 years, according to the latest “red list” analysis.

The authoritative list, compiled by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), has also added more than 700 newly recognised bird species, but 13 of these are already extinct.

It says wild relatives of important food crops, such as mangoes and sunflowers, are now in danger of extinction, cutting the ability to safeguard food supplies by breeding new varieties resilient to drought and disease.

But there is a little hopeful news in the list as well with the rediscovery of a few species thought to have been lost, such a Madagascan freshwater fish which had not been seen since the 1960s, and the recovery of the Seychelles white-eye bird after conservation efforts.

The natural world is in the midst of a mass extinction as wild places are destroyed by conversion to farmland, mining and pollution, and animals are hunted in huge numbers. In October, a major analysis found the number of wild creatures was on track to fall by two-thirds by 2020, compared to 1970. Recent red list updates have found the eastern Gorilla and whale shark moving closer to extinction, while the prospects of the giant panda are improving.

The number of species assessed by the red list now totals more than 85,000, with more than 24,000 at risk of extinction, but many more species remain unstudied. “Many species are slipping away before we can even describe them,” said Inger Andersen, IUCN’s director general. 

 

Read more and watch video 

Giraffe genetic secret: Four species of tallest mammal identified - via Mike Playfair

By Victoria GillScience reporter, BBC News

8 September 2016 

It is a famous, gentle giant of the African savannah, but the giraffe's genetics have just revealed that there is not one species, but four.

Giraffes have previously been recognised to be a single species divided into several sub-species.

But this latest study of their DNA suggests that four groups of giraffes have not cross-bred and exchanged genetic material for millions of years.

This is a clear indication that they have evolved into distinct species.

The study published in the journal Current Biology has rewritten the biology of Earth's tallest mammal.

The scientists say their findings could inform the conservation efforts for all four species of giraffe.

Conservation was the catalyst for this genetic research; the Giraffe Conservation Foundation asked the team to carry out genetic analysis of giraffes in Namibia.

The foundation wanted to understand the genetic differences between different giraffe populations, to see how the animals might be affected if different subspecies were mixed together when animals were moved into protected areas.

What we found then, says Axel Janke, a geneticist at the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, who led the research, "was that the sub-species were genetically very different and separate.

"I'd never seen that in a population study [of a species] before."

This initial study examined what is known as mitochondrial DNA - a packet of DNA within every cell's "engine". This is useful for population genetics - it can be easily isolated and contains lots of known variants that can track relatedness.

But mitochondrial DNA is not part of the code that builds an animal, so Dr Janke decided to examine and compare parts of that code - the nuclear DNA.

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Giraffes Are Being Killed for Their Tails

Poachers are wiping away a rare subspecies of giraffe found in central Africa. Exclusive video shows the aftermath of recent killings.

The killing of three rare Kordofan giraffes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo inspired a filmmaker to transform his anger into action.

By Jani Actman

PUBLISHED AUGUST 10, 2016

Documentary filmmaker David Hamlin recalls the adrenalin rush when he was flying over the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Garamba National Park in late June and spotted three giraffes standing in a small clearing. “Seeing these giraffes from the air was really exciting,” says Hamlin, who was on assignment for National Geographic. “Seeing them anywhere is really exciting.”

That’s because Garamba is huge, sprawling over nearly 2,000 square miles (5,180 square kilometers) of mostly forested land, and it's a rare, lucky event to come across any of its 40 remaining giraffes.

But Hamlin’s exhilaration at seeing and photographing the giraffes didn’t last long. Twelve hours later rangers reported hearing gunshots, and they later discovered three bullet-riddled giraffe carcasses rotting in the sun. “It was horrible for me and the team,” Hamlin says—”the crushing realization that most likely it was these guys, the ones we’d seen.”

Hamlin decided to document the aftermath of the tragedy (watch the video above) to raise awareness about poaching in the park, which is managed by the nonprofit organization African Parks in association with the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature, a government agency.

Garamba is Africa’s second oldest national park and has been hit hard by poaching in recent years as civil unrest has escalated in the region. Its rhinos have been wiped out, and elephants have suffered huge losses. The same goes for its Kordofan giraffes, one of Africa’s nine giraffe subspecies.

Fewer than 2,000 now roam central Africa, according to Julian Fennessy, co-director of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, a Namibia-based organization. Garamba’s Kordofans represent the last population in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “If the number slips in half, then we’re in a real dire situation,” Fennessy says. “Every single giraffe is valuable.”

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Sir David Attenborough: giraffes are facing 'silent extinction'

Sarah Knapton, science editor 18 JUNE 2016 • 6:00AM

Giraffes are facing a ‘silent extinction’ with just 90,000 animals still roaming the African plains, far fewer than the endangered African Elephant, a new documentary warns.

Just 15 years ago there were thought to be around 150,000 giraffes in the wild but since then numbers have slumped by 40 per cent because of habitat loss and poaching.

A new BBC documentary, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, followed a conservation team as they relocated a group of 20 animals across the Nile in Uganda where it is hoped they will be safe from oil prospectors.

“These gentle giants have been overlooked,” said Sir David. “ It’s well known that African elephants are in trouble and there are perhaps just under half a million left.

“But what no one realised is there are far fewer giraffes. Giraffes have already become extinct in seven countries. They are killed for their meat and their habitats are being destroyed. Time is running out.”

Despite the fact that populations number around one fifth of African Elephants, the giraffe conservation status is still graded as of ‘Least Concern.’

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How did the giraffe get its long neck? Clues now revealed by new genome sequencing

Date: May 17, 2016

Source: Penn State

For the first time, the genomes of the giraffe and its closest living relative, the reclusive okapi of the African rainforest, have been sequenced -- revealing the first clues about the genetic changes that led to the evolution of the giraffe's exceptionally long neck and its record-holding ranking as the world's tallest land species. The research will be published in the scientific journal Nature Communications on May 17, 2016.

"The giraffe's stature, dominated by its long neck and legs and an overall height that can reach 19 feet (~ 6 m), is an extraordinary feat of evolution that has inspired awe and wonder for at least 8,000 years -- as far back as the famous rock carvings at Dabous in the Republic of Niger," said Douglas Cavener of Penn State University, who led the research team with Morris Agaba of the Nelson Mandela African Institute for Science and Technology in Tanzania.

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Giraffe legs' strong, skinny secret

By Victoria GillScience reporter, BBC News, Manchester

The researchers hope to understand how the animals evolved to be so "bizarrely long-necked"

Scientists have worked out the anatomical secret to giraffes' long and spindly - but strong - legs.

Researchers from the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) of London found that a supportive ligament is protected by a groove in the animals' lower leg bones.

This groove is much deeper in giraffes than in other animals, and the researchers say this helps the spindly-legged giants support their bodyweight.

The work was outlined at the Society for Experimental Biology meeting.

"Giraffes are heavy animals (about 1,000kg), but have unusually skinny limb bones for an animal of this size," explained Mr Christopher Basu, the PhD student who led the research.

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Giraffe fights and friendships revealed

As the tallest animals in the world, with gangly legs, twisting black tongues and patchwork markings, giraffes are instantly recognisable.

But we still know relatively little about the behaviour of these supposedly "gentle giants".

Footage recorded for a new landmark natural history series, Africa, coproduced by the BBC and Discovery, reveals a little seen brutal aspect to giraffes' lives.

Male giraffes were filmed engaging in a bruising fight, literally going head to head until a single giraffe is left standing.

New research just published also shows that female giraffes form previously unrecognised close bonds with a select group of female companions.

Not only do they make "friends" in this way, they avoid other females they get on with less well.

Scientific studies of giraffes often focus on their iconic aspects: how fast they can travel or how high they can reach using their long legs, the strength of their necks and the colour of their coats.

Read more:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/20694264

Aging Male Giraffes Go Black, Not Gray

Male giraffes become more illustrious with age, but rather than the silvery locks that distinguish the likes of Sean Connery and George Clooney, the hairy blotches on these long-necked mammals darken with age.

And new research suggests the appearance change takes about 1.8 years to complete, with male giraffes being completely covered in coal-black blotches by an average age of 9.4 years.

"What is fascinating about the color change is that it goes from light to dark," study researcher Fred Bercovitch, of the Primate Research Institute & Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, told LiveScience. "In gorillas who turn silverback, and in men, the color gets lighter, not darker with age." 

Continued:  http://www.livescience.com/19686-aging-male-giraffes-black-spots.html

New 'high' light for Cotswold Wildlife Park

Click to enlarge

The Oxford Times, 17 June 2010, p11.