Member-only story

There Are More Giraffe Species Than You Think

For the longest time, people thought there was just one species of giraffe. DNA studies argue we were wrong

A West African Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis peralta) peeks under an Acacia tree in the tiger bush near Koure, Niger. This area marks the northern range of their migration, which runs south to the Dosso Partial Reserve of the Niger River in the Dry Season. (Credit: Roland H. / CC BY-SA 2.0.)

How many species of giraffes are there? Well, it may surprise you to learn this, but some people have actually thought about this throughout the decades, and they decided that there is only one species, Giraffa camelopardalis. However, a paper published in BMC Biology convincingly demonstrates that giraffes are actually comprised of at least six, and possibly as many as eleven separate species instead of just one, as originally thought.

According to findings published by a research team led by David Brown, a geneticist at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), these giraffe species live in different regions of sub-saharan Africa and show distinct and easily visible differences in their patched markings that are so different that these populations had previously been classified into separate subspecies.

However, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and nuclear microsatellite loci DNA analyses of six of the nine subspecies reveal that these populations are more distinct than previously thought; for example, the reticulated giraffe (Currently: Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata) in North Kenya, which has reddish round spots; and the Masai…

--

--

The Academic
The Academic

Published in The Academic

The Academic aims to be a top tier, peer-reviewed publication on Medium brought to you by a global community of subject-matter experts.

𝐆𝐫𝐫π₯π’πœπ’πžπ§π­π’π¬π­, scientist & journalist
𝐆𝐫𝐫π₯π’πœπ’πžπ§π­π’π¬π­, scientist & journalist

Written by 𝐆𝐫𝐫π₯π’πœπ’πžπ§π­π’π¬π­, scientist & journalist

PhD evolutionary ecology/ornithology. Psittacophile. SciComm senior contributor at Forbes, former SciComm at Guardian. Also on Substack at 'Words About Birds'.

Responses (29)