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First insights into past biodiversity of giraffes based on mitochondrial sequences from museum specimens

Intensified exploration of sub-Saharan Africa during the 18th and 19th centuries led to many newly described giraffe subspecies. Several populations described at that time are now extinct, which is problematic for a full understanding of giraffe taxonomy. In this study, we provide mitochondrial sequences for 41 giraffes, including 19 museum specimens of high importance to resolve giraffe taxonomy, such as Zarafa from Sennar and two giraffes from Abyssinia (subspecies camelopardalis), three of the first southern individuals collected by Levaillant and

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How many species of giraffe are there?

In a recent paper in Current Biology, Fennessy and colleagues [1] conclude that there are four species of giraffe and that their numbers are declining in Africa. Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) are presently classifi ed as one species, with nine subspecies, which are considered ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List [2]. The present consensus of one species divided into nine subspecies has previously been questioned (Supplemental information), and Fennessy and colleagues [1] provide another viewpoint on giraffe taxonomy. The fundamental reason

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Response to “How many species of giraffe are there?”

It is not unexpected that a proposal, such as ours [1], of four new mammalian species stirs up controversy, as evident in the correspondence by Bercovitch et al. [2]. We appreciate that their concerns are unrelated to the quality of the genetic data, the methodological approach or analyses, but are focused on the interpretation. Thus, we provided an analysis of giraffe speciation based on genomic sequence data, and not just “another viewpoint on giraffe taxonomy” [2]. We maintain our perspective

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A comparative approach for species delimitation based on multiple methods of multi-locus DNA sequence analysis: A case study of the genus Giraffa (Mammalia, Cetartiodactyla)

Molecular data are now commonly used in taxonomy for delimiting cryptic species. In the case of giraffes, which were treated as a single species (Giraffa camelopardalis) during half of a century, several molecular studies have suggested a splitting into four to seven species, but the criteria applied for taxonomic delimitation were not fully described. In this study, we have analysed all multi-locus DNA sequences available for giraffes using multispecies coalescent (MSC: *BEAST, BPP and STACEY), population genetic (STRUCTURE, allelic networks,

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The origins of the scientific study and classification of giraffes

Giraffes have been known for many thousands of years from rock art and Egyptian artefacts, displayed by Roman emperors at games and triumphs between 46BC and AD274, and briefly exhibited in the zoos of the Italian City States in the 15th Century, yet they remained in the realm of mythology until, in 1764, Ryk Tulbagh, Governor of the Cape Colony, sent a skin and a drawing of a giraffe to Holland. This was the first evidence of their existence to

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Supplement on the paper of: Extensive population genetic structure in the giraffe.

Brown et al. (pp. 63/64, if I counted correctly, – the page numbers on the PDF of the paper are “not for citation puposes”) suggest “that the giraffe might represent more than one species” and that their results and arguments “support viewing the giraffe as containing multiple distinct species rather than a single polymorphic form. Reciprocal monophyly in mtDNA sequences and nearly absolute partitioning in microsatellite data support minimally six species, corresponding to Giraffa peralta, G. rothschildii, G. reticulata, G.

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Giraffe Intergradation in Kenya

Since data concerning the distribution of the species and races of giraffe are scarce, the following observation, which concerns apparent hybrids between the reticulated giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata) and the Masai giraffe (G. capensis tippelskirchi), a race of the southern species, seems noteworthy. The reticulated giraffe inhibits such low-level deserts in Kenya as lie north of the Tana River and east of Lake Rudolph, and also adjacent parts of southern Abyssinia; while the Masai giraffe occurs in deserts, bush country

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