The northern giraffe (''Giraffa camelopardalis''), also known as three-horned giraffe,Linnaeus, C. (1758)
The Nubian or Three-horned giraffe (''Giraffa camelopardalis'').
Existing Forms of Giraffe (February 16, 1897): 14. is the type species of

giraffe The giraffe is a large African hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa''. It is the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on Earth. Traditionally, giraffes were thought to be one species, ''Giraffa camelopardalis ...

, ''G. camelopardalis'', and is native to North Africa, although alternative taxonomic hypotheses have proposed the northern giraffe as a separate species. Once abundant throughout Africa since the 19th century, Northern giraffes ranged from Senegal, Mali and Nigeria from West Africa to up north in Egypt. The similar West African giraffes lived in Algeria and Morocco in ancient periods until their extinctions due to the

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n dry climate. Giraffes collectively are considered

Vulnerable Vulnerable may refer to: General * Vulnerability * Vulnerability (computing) * Vulnerable adult * Vulnerable species Music Albums * ''Vulnerable'' (Marvin Gaye album), 1997 * ''Vulnerable'' (Tricky album), 2003 * ''Vulnerable'' (The Used album) ...

to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with around 97,000 wild individuals alive in 2016, of which 5,195 are Northern giraffes.

Taxonomy and evolution

The current IUCN taxonomic scheme lists one species of

with the name ''G. camelopardalis'' and nine subspecies. A 2021 whole genome sequencing study suggests the northern giraffe as a separate species, and postulates the existence of three distinct subspecies.

Description

Often mistaken with the Southern Giraffes, Northern giraffes can be differentiated by the shape and size of the two distinctive horn-like protuberances known as ossicones on their foreheads; they are longer and larger than those of southern giraffes. Bull Northern giraffes have a third cylindrical ossicone in the center of the head just above the eyes, which is from 3 to 5 inches long.

Distribution and habitat

Northern giraffes live in

savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...

s, and woodlands. After numerous local extinctions, Northern giraffes are the least numerous giraffe species, and the most endangered. In East Africa, they are mostly found in Kenya and southwestern Ethiopia, and rarely in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan. In Central Africa, there are about 2,000 in the Central African Republic,

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

and Cameroon. Once widespread in West Africa, a few hundred Northern giraffes are confined in the

Dosso Reserve The Dosso Partial Faunal Reserve is a nature reserve in the southwest Dosso Region of Niger. It is a Partial Faunal Reserve IUCN type IV, established 1 January 1962. The reserve covers 3,065 square kilometres in the mouth of Dallol Bosso valley ...

Kouré, Niger Kouré is a rural community located east of Niamey, the capital of Niger. The town lies on both sides of the road from Niamey to Dallol Bosso. Kouré is best known for West African giraffes (''Giraffa camelopardalis peralta''), an endemic subspec ...

. They are isolated in South Sudan, Kenya,

and Niger. They commonly live both in and outside of protected areas. The earliest ranges of the Northern giraffes were in Chad during the late Pliocene. Once abundant in North Africa, they lived in Algeria from the early Pleistocene during the

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

period. They lived in Morocco, Libya and Egypt until their extinction there around AD 600, as the drying climate of the

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made conditions impossible for giraffes. Giraffe bones and fossils have been found across these countries.

References

External links

*ARKive �
images and movies of the giraffe ''(Giraffa camelopardalis)''

Giraffe
African Wildlife Foundation
Giraffe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Northern giraffe Giraffes Mammals of North Africa Mammals described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Extant Miocene first appearances