The IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, now officially recognizes four distinct giraffe species, it announced on Aug. 21.
Until recently, giraffes across Africa were classified as a single species with eight to 11 subspecies. However, since 2016, when the giraffe’s threat status was last assessed for the IUCN Red List as vulnerable, several studies have argued for splitting the giraffe into multiple species given their vast differences.
In response, the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group (GOSG) initiated a taxonomic review and concluded there are four distinct species of giraffe: the northern (Giraffa camelopardalis), reticulated (G. reticulata), Masai (G. tippelskirchi) and southern giraffe (G. giraffa). The northern giraffe now includes three subspecies, while the Masai and southern giraffe have two each.
“For a long time, we’ve known that giraffe diversity was being underestimated, but there wasn’t a unified IUCN position,” Michael Brown, review co-author and co-chair of the IUCN GOSG, told Mongabay by email. “Without that clarity, conservation risks treating giraffe as one big, healthy population instead of several species — some of which are actually very small and at real risk. Doing the review now ensures that conservation plans and resources can be better targeted, and that no species gets overlooked.”
The GOSG review initially considered eight giraffe lineages and evaluated the evidence supporting each as distinct species. They considered three lines of scientific evidence: genetic analysis of giraffe populations across Africa, examination of hundreds of giraffe skulls and bone shape, and biogeographical features like rivers and rift valleys that have kept populations apart over time.
While four lineages couldn’t hold up as standalone species, the final four were consistently supported as distinct species by different data sources, Brown said.
Genetics gave the reviewers the strongest signal. “[G]iraffe are actually one of the most genetically well-studied large mammals in Africa, and the data consistently point to four separate lineages,” Brown said.
The four giraffe species live in different parts of Africa. The northern giraffe can be found in isolated pockets stretching from Niger to East Africa, while the reticulated giraffe is found primarily in northern Kenya and parts of Ethiopia and Somalia, Brown said. The Masai giraffe inhabits large parts of Tanzania and central and southern Kenya, while the southern giraffe is found across Southern Africa, including Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe, he added.
The threat status of each species will now have to be assessed for the IUCN Red List. “That means pulling together the latest data on population sizes, trends, and threats for each one,” Brown said. “The Taxonomy Review provides the framework, but the Red List process itself is a separate, formal evaluation with its own expert review.”
These steps can help focus conservation efforts where they’re most needed. “This review isn’t the end of the story — it’s the start of a clearer, more effective era for giraffe conservation,” Brown said.
Banner image: Giraffes in Uganda’s Kidepo Valley National Park. Image courtesy of Michael Brown.
This story first appeared on Mongabay
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