Giraffes heading for ‘silent extinction’ as numbers plummet

The gentle giants’ numbers have dipped from as many as 163,000 in 1985 to just over 97,000 a year ago, according to the report. Giraffe numbers are plunging most in central and eastern Africa and are being offset by increases in southern Africa, he said. A total of 860 plant and animal species have gone extinct, and another 68% have become extinct in the wild. Thus, a research has found that there is a drop of giraffes count, and they are classified as vulnerable to extinction.

In the latest Red List of Threatened Species report, while the largest giraffe populations live in national parks and reserves, these protected areas are proving to be insufficient. For instance, a planned dam construction could wipe out half of the habitat of the Antioquia wren (Thryophilus sernai), and as such, the IUCN listed the species as “endangered”.

“We are increasing our reach, working with partners throughout Africa to enhance giraffe conservation on the ground, while at the same time collaborating with partners internationally to rally support and awareness for giraffe”, Steph Fennessy, director of GCF, said.

The red list of endangered species complied by the IUCN moved the giraffe to the category “vulnerable” to extinction for the first time, against a previous rating of “least concern”.

The new categorisation means that the giraffe is at the lower end of the threatened group of animals.

Thanks to the activity of our own shitty species, the planet is in the midst of a massive crisis now widely known as the “sixth extinction”.

Their demise has been attributed to mammoth expansions to mining and agriculture, along with illegal hunting and increasing conflict between people and wildlife – and civil unrest taking its toll.

This year, the giraffe represents the only animal which changed its status from one year to another.

A reduction in living space, combined with poaching and disease, could push giraffe populations toward extinction, Fennessy said.

Scientists have put it on the official watch list of threatened and endangered species worldwide, calling it “vulnerable”.

Liz Bennett, a spokesperson for the Wildlife Conservation Society, says that the world has concentrated on the impending threats to elephants and rhinos while giraffes whose numbers were dropping significantly were overlooked. The Red List points out that 11% of about 700 other bird species that scientists assessed were at risk of extinction. Based on the latest DNA evidence, a recent scientific paper (also led by Fennessy) calls for reclassifying the long-necked herbivores into four separate species.