The South African giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis giraffa: a conservation success story
Across Africa the majority of giraffe species and subspecies are in decline, whereas the South African giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis giraffa remains numerous and widespread throughout southern Africa. By 2013 the number of giraffes in South Africa’s Kruger National Park had increased by c. 150% compared to 1979 estimates. An even greater increase occurred on many […]
Social organization andbehavioral patterns of the captive giraffe at the Bronx Zoo
The social organization of giraffe has only recently been discovered to have a multi-level structure, and the scientific community lacks the proper understanding of how problems facing giraffe, both in the wild and in captivity, will affect this social organization. In an effort to develop understanding regarding both social and behavioral patterns of captive giraffe, […]
Habitat heterogeneity and social factors drive behavioral plasticity in giraffe herd-size dynamics
Behavioral plasticity, or the mechanism by which an organism can adjust its behavior in response to exogenous change, has been highlighted as a potential buffer against extinction risk. Giraffes (Giraffa spp.) are gregarious, long-lived, highly mobile megaherbivores with a large brain size, characteristics that have been associated with high levels of behavioral plasticity. However, while […]
The Mammals of Angola
Scientific investigations on the mammals of Angola started over 150 years ago, but information remains scarce and scattered, with only one recent published account. Here we provide a synthesis of the mammals of Angola based on a thorough survey of primary and grey literature, as well as recent unpublished records. We present a short history […]
Faecal Glucocorticoids Metabolite Response in Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi) in Relation to Protected Area Management Objectives in Tanzania
The increase in the human population and the demand for natural resources and recreational activities poses insurmountable threats to the welfare and survival of wildlife. Human disturbance negatively impacts wildlife populations. A prospective way of determining wildlife welfare is to assess stress. To manage and conserve giraffes, it is vital to understand their stress factors […]
Social Behavior and communication in a herd of captive giraffe
Data on wild giraffe herds have often been interpreted as a random association of individuals, but the extent to which giraffe have a more complex social structure may have been overlooked. The focus of this dissertation is to investigate patterns of social relationships among individual giraffe. Social interaction and association (proximity and nearest neighbor) distributions […]
Matrilineal population structure and distribution of the Angolan giraffe the Namib desert and beyond
The distribution maps of giraffe (Giraffa) subspecies in southern Africa are based on historical assumptions, yet some populations have likely been misidentified, hindering effective conservation efforts. Particularly, the populations in Zimbabwe are poorly studied, and translocations, such as the 1991 movement of giraffe from Namibia’s Etosha National Park to mitigate the human-induced decline of Namibia’s […]
Giraffe translocations: A review and discussion of considerations
Giraffe populations have declined dramatically in the last three decades. Giraffe translocations are likely to increase as wildlife managers seek to augment or re-establish populations. Currently, formal practical guidance for giraffe translocations is limited. Here, we present a review of translocation guidelines emphasising planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and we review giraffe behaviour and ecology […]
All the eggs in one basket: A countrywide assessment of current and historical giraffe population distribution in Uganda
To design effective conservation and management strategies at the national scale, it is important to consider population trends across space and time. Here we assessed the near threatened Rothschild’s giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi) in Uganda. We applied individual-based photographic surveys to generate abundance estimates for all extant populations, using either mark-recapture estimates or complete enumeration, […]
A conservation assessment of Giraffa camelopardalis giraffa
Taxonomic notes: Currently, nine subspecies classifications have been proposed for Giraffe (Ansell 1972; Dagg & Foster 1982; Kingdon 1997; East 1999; Grubb 2005; Ciofolo & Pendu 2013). There is considerable uncertainty surrounding the geographic and taxonomic limits of all described subspecies (Fennessy et al. 2013). Furthermore, recent genetic work suggests that several subspecies may even […]