Which type of giraffe would you like to see more often in zoos?

[TheEthiopianWolf03]

I'm still a bit confused about current giraffe taxonomy. What's the current status of giraffes right now?

 

[ZooBinh]

I'm still a bit confused about current giraffe taxonomy. What's the current status of giraffes right now?

There's the 4 species taxonomy : Northern, Southern, Reticulated, and Masai. Northern ssp. include Nubian, Kordofan, and West African with Rothschild's being an ecomorph of nominate ssp. (Nubian). Southern is split into South African and Angolan. Reticulated and Masai are monotypic.

 

[Fallax]

There's the 4 species taxonomy : Northern, Southern, Reticulated, and Masai. Northern ssp. include Nubian, Kordofan, and West African with Rothschild's being an ecomorph of nominate ssp. (Nubian). Southern is split into South African and Angolan. Reticulated and Masai are monotypic.

And that ia only 1 out of who knows how many taxonomies!

 

[lintworm]

I'm still a bit confused about current giraffe taxonomy. What's the current status of giraffes right now?

There are 4 main theories.

1) The traditional view of only 1 Giraffe species, this is the status quo, but seems to lose support quickly

2) 8 Giraffe species, basically splitting each currently recognized subspecies, but lumping Rotschildt's Giraffe into Nubian Giraffe. This one is not supported by genetic data, but follows strict PSC approach

3) 4 species theory, which is the one mentioned by @ZooBinh , and this one seems to be best supported currently

4) 3 species theory, this one is very similar to number 3 but lumps reticulata into camelopardalis.