Giraffes are the world’s tallest mammals and an African icon, but they are also vulnerable to extinction.
Giraffe populations have declined by 40% in the last 30 years, and there are now fewer than 70,000 mature individuals left in the wild. What are the causes of this alarming decline, and what can be done to protect these gentle giants?
The five biggest threats to giraffes are habitat loss, insufficient law enforcement, ecological changes, climate change, and lack of awareness. Below, I will tell you about these threats and what is being done to save them.
I will also explain a study I was a part of that ranked these threats in terms of each one’s danger of causing giraffe extinction, and whether human actions can alleviate that danger. The study used data from more than 3,100 giraffes identified over eight years in an unfenced 4,500km² area of the Tarangire ecosystem in Tanzania. We used the data to simulate how environmental and land use changes could affect the giraffe population over 50 years.
