giraffes.

H

hemsley

Well-Known Member
so which is the most endangered sub species? we are told that it is the rothschild, but looking at the wild populations, there seems to be fewer nigerian? any help greatly appreciated.
 
hmm i would always thought rothschild coz they are more common in zoos who are doing breeding and some zoos are changing to rothschild!
 
Probably Rothschild subspecies it´s the most endangered, I remember Koen Brower,actually Bioparc Director(former EAZA General Secretary) says " only 500 remain in the wild"
 
KEEPER said:
Probably Rothschild subspecies it´s the most endangered"
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As was pointed out above, the West African form (peralta) is rarer than Rothschild's. There are no true peralta in captivity - the ones still listed as such on ISIS have been shown to actually be antiquorum.
 
thanks for the info. you also answered my next question (whether there were any in captivity) ta. :)
 
Yes, for (G.c. peralta) ISIS report 8 males 25 females 1 unknown and one group of 4 animals
 
MikeG said:
There are no true peralta in captivity - the ones still listed as such on ISIS have been shown to actually be antiquorum.
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Looks like I need to repeat myself. ISIS hasn't caught up with the latest findings yet. In 2007 a study proved that all giraffes in Europe formerly listed as Nigerian giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis peralta), were in fact Kordofan giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis antiquorum).
See "EUROPEAN STUDBOOK FOR THE GIRAFFE EEP, Edition 6A, April 2009"
which is available on-line.
 
The race peralta only some 150+ remain in Niger. Compared with the rothschildi is less endangered, allthough probably CR EN by IUCN standards.
 
I have tried to get information on the antiquorum giraffes in french zoos. I know they were originally listed as peralta, but after new research in 2007 it was concluded they belonged indeed to the antiquorum subspecies. I couldn`t find the complete article in the internet, just an abstract. It said that only the giraffe populations west of lake Chad are peralta and all others in belong to antiquorum, incl. those from Chad and Sudan. However, I found the information that one of the founders of the french giraffe popluation now believed to be antiquorum was from Obervolta, which is definately west of lake Chad and would even after re-classification belong to the peralta population.
That would mean all giraffes now labelled as "antiquorum" are hybrids between peralta and antiquorum.

Is this correct? Does someone knows more, or has read the complete article from 2007?

Thanks!
 
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