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Computer-aided photographic pelage pattern analysis of Giraffa camelopardalis (Artiodactyla: Giraffidae)

The giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) is one of the most recognisable animal species on earth. Yet hunting and habitat loss and fragmentation have led to severe, but until recently largely unnoticed, declines of giraffe populations all over Africa. The IUCN recognised one single species with nine subspecies and changed the status from ‘Least Concern’ to ‘Vulnerable’ in 2016. However, the number of giraffe species and its subspecies has been a topic of ongoing discussion for more than a century. To date,

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Giraffe south of the Niger-Benue river system

Although giraffes have been seen occasionally south of the Niger river, there is no evidence that permanent populations occur in this area) and presumably the giraffes either die or return to the northern side. The southern habitats may be unsuitable for two reasons. First, human harassment and habitat modification may prevent the establishment of viable “southern herds”. Secondly, there may be an absence or inadequacy of particular food plants or some other environmental requirement. These speculations emphasize the necessity of

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Letter From Namibia

The modern giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) is the world’s tallest animal and its largest ruminant. It is also among the most quintessentially African of animals, being found throughout most of the continent—the great­est concentrations in eastern and southern Africa. Yet, since the dawn of the new millennium, a combination of habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, civil unrest, and rampant poaching has led to an alarming 40 percent de­cline in giraffe populations across Africa—from an estimated 140,000 individuals in 1999 to less than

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Development of 11 microsatellite markers for Giraffa camelopardalis through 454 pyrosequencing, with primer options for an additional 458 microsatellites

Many wild giraffe populations are declining across Africa, with two subspecies listed by the IUCN as Endangered in the past 4 years. We developed 11 microsatellite markers from Giraffa camelopardalis angolensis in Etosha National Park, Namibia using 454 sequencing. In 70 individuals, the loci showed 2–4 alleles per locus and expected heterozygosities of 0.082–0.711. There were no significant deviations from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium for any of the loci. Null allele frequencies were low (<3 %) across all loci. We present primer options for

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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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GIRAFFES

The giraffe, Girafa camelopardalis, is distributed widely in Africa, although in many territories numbers have decreased greatly during the past century. In West Africa, a few are said to live in the Ferlo district, but there are none in Gambia, Sierra Leone or Liberia. In French West Africa, the once extensive range of the giraffe has become very reduced, and it is now found in number in only two regions-the first in the Mtnaka district, and the second around Aderbissinat.

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Home ranges, seasonal ranges and daily movements of giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis giraffa) in northern Botswana

Introduction: Movement studies have been conducted on various giraffe subspecies across different ecological and management environments in Africa. However, prior to recent advancements in technology, studies were limited to identification methods relying on chance encounters of individuals (e.g. Foster, 1966; Berry, 1978; le Pendu & Ciofolo, 1999) and VHF radio-tracking (e.g. Langman, 1973; Dagg & Foster, 1982), which can underestimate movements (Fennessy, 2009). Now, GPS satellite units enable remote monitoring of movements with the increased ability to collect more accurate

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The distribution of the giraffe in Africa

The range and numbers of giraffe have been decreasing in Africa with the expansion of civilization and with extensive poaching activities. Various articles have been published recently on the status of the large wild animals in different countries of Africa and the reports on the giraffe, together with data from correspondence with many of the African Game Departments are incorporated here to give a complete picture of the present distribution and abundance of the giraffe in Africa.

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