Giraffes slip silently on to the vulnerable list

A sad and disturbing article appeared on one of my news feeds the other day. It’s not new news. In fact, the article was from the December 2015 Smithsonian magazine, but the problem it describes isn’t going away.

According to the latest ‘red list’ compiled by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the giraffe—the world’s tallest animal—is at risk of extinction after suffering a devastating decline in numbers over the last 30 years. Numbers have plummeted from 157,000 individuals in 1985 to 97,500 at last count, and the giraffe is now listed as vulnerable.

Giraffes face two main threats, cities and towns encroaching on their habitat and poaching. Poaching has become increasingly problematic. Hungry villagers sometimes kill the animals for food, and there are reports that many giraffes are slaughtered for just their tails. They are considered status symbols in some cultures and have been used as bracelets, fly whisks and even as a dowry when asking a bride’s father for his daughter’s hand in marriage.

The biggest problem for giraffes, though, may be the lack of attention over the years. ‘I am absolutely amazed that no one has a clue’ about the dwindling numbers, said Julian Fennessy, executive director of Giraffe Conservation Foundation. It’s a silent extinction with some populations numbering less than 400. ‘That is more endangered than any gorilla, or almost any large mammal in the world.’

Duke University conservation biologist Stuart Pimm said ‘There’s a strong tendency to think that familiar species (such as giraffes, chimps, etc.) must be OK because they are familiar and we see them in zoos.’ In fact over the last century, giraffes have silently been going extinct across Africa. They have already disappeared from seven countries—Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Guinea, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria and Senegal.

The first giraffe I saw in the wild

So why am I especially concerned about giraffes? Because they were some of the first big animals I saw in the wild during our overland truck trip in Africa. The first encounter was in Etosha national park in northwest Namibia.

We arrived at the park in the afternoon and set up camp. We were old hands at this by now, so it wasn’t long before Chris, our driver, hustled everyone into the truck so we could go exploring. We saw Thomson’s gazelles first and then came the giraffes. Individuals and small groups, adults and juveniles, then larger groups. The collective noun for a group of giraffes is rather obvious—a tower.

I have more than 40 pics from that day that include giraffes—in the bush, nuzzling offspring, grazing, waiting for a turn at the watering hole, drinking, canoodling?

Giraffes—some details
They are magnificent creatures so here’s a bit more about them.

As I already mentioned, giraffes are the world tallest animals. Males grow up to 18 feet tall with females reaching 14 feet, (or 5.5 and 4.3 metres, respectively). Males weigh up to 3000 pounds (1360 kilograms) and females are about half that.

Their body parts are big too. The tongue is purple and about 21 inches (55 centimetres) long. The neck and legs are 6 feet long (and to think I call myself leggypeggy!) The measurement that really struck me was their lung capacity. Their lungs can hold 12 gallons (55 litres) of air—nine times more than human lungs.

This was another surprise. According to PBS Nature, giraffes sleep about 20 minutes or less per day. Staying awake allows them to be constantly on alert for predators. They usually get their sleep in quick power naps that last just a couple of minutes. I wouldn’t mind perfecting that.

Giraffes are herbivores, which means they eat only plants. Their long necks allow them to reach leaves, seeds, fruits, buds and branches high up in mimosa and acacia trees. They can eat hundreds of pounds of leaves per week, but can go without drinking for weeks at a time because of the moisture in the vegetation they eat.

Just like our fingerprints and a zebra’s stripes, a giraffe’s coat pattern is unique to each animal. The pattern and the small hump on a giraffe’s back are similar to those of a leopard. Years ago, people thought the giraffe was a combination of a camel and a leopard, and called them ‘camel-leopards’.

And some final comments. I haven’t added captions to most of the pics here. They were all taken on the same day in Etosha national park. I’ll do more posts about Etosha, but I wanted to share the situation giraffes face in a post of its own.