Giraffe species re-categorised - impact on zoos

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leiclad20

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10+ year member
New a genetic meta-analysis has confirmed that there are actually 4 distinct species of giraffe, not 1 with 7 subspecies. Of note is that thornicroft's giraffe is genetically identical to the maasai giraffe, and the Rothschild's giraffe is genetically identical to the Nubian giraffe.

Giraffe Species - GiraffeConservation.org

They are still carrying out genetic work on the angolan/south african giraffe, suggesting they may also be genetically too similar to be regarded as separate subspecies.

What will be the impact on zoos? How quickly will they rename 'rothschilds' in collections as 'nubian' and will we see more genetic analysis of captive giraffes to determine purity?

The secondary aim of the research was to help guide conservaiton efforts and identify those species most at risk. The west african subspecie now has a smaller population than the rothschilds was thought to have before it was merged with nubians, so may there be a gradual increase in interest in captive breeding of west africans?
 
This research was basically confirmation of prior research that there are multiple giraffe species. In North America genetic research has shown that most of the non-Masai populations are hybrids and management decisions were made years ago to reflect that (i.e., there are two giraffe populations managed, Masai and a hybrid population).

As for the formal taxonomy, the new paper proposes four species, but that is still a taxonomic hypothesis that needs to be officially tested. Full genome sequencing of the different types of giraffes remains to be done, so while we probably have a good idea of the extent of differentiation between the nine former subspecies, there may yet be more differentiation discovered.

It seems unlikely that West African giraffes would be brought into captivity at this point. Preserving them in the wild makes better economic and biological sense given the expense and hazards of immobilizing and transporting giraffes.
 
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I also do wonder how this may affect management and whether f.i. Southern giraffe still require designation by subspecies (South-African and Angolan)?
 
From all giraffe species, the South African giraffe would be most easy to be imported from Africa (from South Africa), because bans primarly for veterinary reasons.
There are about 20 Angolan giraffes in Europe.
 
Wait and see when the new IUCN Red List review is finalised (before making any speculative assumptions)!!!
 
DavidBrown said:
This research was basically confirmation of prior research that there are multiple giraffe species. In North America at least genetic research has shown that most of the non-Masai populations are hybrids and management decisions were made years ago to reflect that (i.e., there are two giraffe populations managed, Masai and a hybrid population).

As for the formal taxonomy, the new paper proposes four species, but that is still a taxonomic hypothesis that needs to be officially tested. Full genome sequencing of the different types of giraffes remains to be done, so while we probably have a good idea of the extent of differentiation between the nine former subspecies, there may yet be more differentiation discovered.

It seems unlikely that West African giraffes would be brought into captivity at this point. Preserving them in the wild makes better economic and biological sense given the expense and hazards of immobilizing and transporting giraffes.
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Thought of you David when I heard this reported, was looking forward to hearing your comment :)

We will have to wait and see???
 
In terms of European collections, this potential reclassification will make very little difference; in recent years the population has been managed to keep pure populations of those taxa present in European countries distinct from one another, to prevent these populations interbreeding with the large number of hybrid individuals throughout Europe, and to slowly reduce the hybrid population through ceasing to breed from said individuals. As such things will presumably proceed as usual, whether or not the populations are deemed to be subspecies or species.

With the exception of collections allowing pure and hybrid individuals to mix and interbreed, and those collections who *do* continue breeding hybrid stock, these endeavours have been going quite well; not to get onto a completely different and controversial topic, but the success of the Reticulated Giraffe programme in Europe and the resulting over-representation of certain genetic lines is precisely why the "Marius" situation came about.

In terms of the proposed species and their population within Europe, the current situation is as follows; I have listed the populations by traditional subspecies for clarity of situation.

"Northern Giraffe"

19 collections hold Kordofan Giraffe with a handful of these breeding the taxon.
108 collections hold Rothschild's Giraffe with many of these breeding the taxon.
No collections in Europe hold Nubian Giraffe; I believe there is a single breeding group in the UAE.
No collections hold West African Giraffe - no matter what a certain man in Cumbria says :p

"Masai Giraffe"

No collections hold Thornicroft’s Giraffe.
No collections hold Masai Giraffe; the last individual in Europe died in 2015.

"Reticulated Giraffe"

46 collections hold Reticulated Giraffe with many of these breeding the taxon.

"Southern Giraffe"

4 collections hold Angolan Giraffe, with sporadic breeding at three of these.
6 collections hold Cape Giraffe; although some have bred in past I don't think this has occurred in recent years.

Hybrid Giraffe

50 collections hold hybrid Giraffe; as noted above these have mostly ceased to breed but a few collections continue to do so.
 
Although they do not currently hold any, Wildplace at Bristol is hoping to add giraffe next year and they are currently working on in situ research on Kordofan Giraffe, so I presume that is the taxon they are looking to hold.
 
Be good if we were to have another UK collection keeping Kordofan Giraffe - even better if it were one that didn't keep them mixed with uncastrated hybrids like the current one has! ;)
 
Hence the "has" rather than "does" :) as I didn't think this was the case any more - good to hear it isn't though!
 
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