tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/giraffes-8925/articlesGiraffes – The Conversation2023-11-01T14:37:13Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2159202023-11-01T14:37:13Z2023-11-01T14:37:13ZGiraffes could go extinct – the 5 biggest threats they face<p>Giraffes are the world’s tallest mammals and an African icon, but they are also vulnerable to extinction. </p>
<p>Giraffe populations have <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/9194/136266699">declined</a> by 40% in the last 30 years, and there are now fewer than 70,000 mature individuals left in the wild. What are the causes of this alarming decline, and what can be done to protect these gentle giants? </p>
<p>The five biggest threats to giraffes are habitat loss, insufficient law enforcement, ecological changes, climate change, and lack of awareness. Below, I will tell you about these threats and what is being done to save them. </p>
<p>I will also explain a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.16970">study</a> I was a part of that ranked these threats in terms of each one’s danger of causing giraffe extinction, and whether human actions can alleviate that danger. The study used data from more than 3,100 giraffes identified over eight years in an unfenced 4,500km² area of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarangire_Ecosystem">Tarangire ecosystem</a> in Tanzania. We used the data to simulate how environmental and land use changes could affect the giraffe population over 50 years. </p>
<p>The findings can guide conservation actions.</p>
<h2>Habitat degradation, fragmentation and loss</h2>
<p>Giraffes need large areas of savanna with abundant native bushes and trees to feed on. The biggest threat to giraffes is the degradation, fragmentation and loss of their habitats through human activities such as farming and human settlement expansion.</p>
<p>Habitat loss outside protected areas is the main reason for the recent decline in giraffe numbers. National parks provide most of the remaining habitat. Some good habitat remains unprotected but is cared for by pastoralists. </p>
<p>Traditional pastoralists like the Maasai in northern Tanzania <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520273559/savannas-of-our-birth">maintain</a> large spaces of natural savanna where wildlife and people thrive together. </p>
<p>However, most people now living in areas that were giraffe habitat are sedentary. As populations of farmers and townspeople expand, giraffes are forced into smaller and more isolated patches of land. This <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.01.017">reduces</a> their access to food and water, and increases their vulnerability. </p>
<p>Conservationists are working to safeguard existing unprotected giraffe habitat and maintain or restore the connections among protected areas. Community-based <a href="https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jwmg.21549">natural resource management</a> is central to this activity. It gives local communities the legal power to protect their land and resources. </p>
<h2>Insufficient law enforcement</h2>
<p>Another major threat to giraffes is illegal hunting (<a href="https://esj-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1007/s10144-015-0499-9">poaching</a>) for bushmeat markets. This is usually controlled by <a href="https://www.interpol.int/en/News-and-Events/News/2020/Wildlife-crime-closing-ranks-on-serious-crime-in-the-illegal-animal-trade">international criminal syndicates</a>. </p>
<p>Strong wildlife law enforcement is the best tool to combat this threat. Conservationists are working to strengthen local and international law enforcement around wildlife crimes, and to reduce the demand for giraffe products. At the grassroots level, this requires supporting anti-poaching patrols by rangers and village game scouts. It’s also essential that communities should have legal alternative ways to make a living. </p>
<h2>Ecological changes</h2>
<p>A third major threat to giraffes is human-caused ecological change that affects their food availability and mobility. These changes include deforestation of savannas for fuelwood and charcoal production, mining activity, and road and pipeline building. Water diversion and groundwater pumping also affect their habitat and access to water.</p>
<p>Mining, roads and pipelines can disrupt the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93604-4_12">natural movement patterns</a> of wildlife, leading to smaller, more isolated populations that are more susceptible to local extinction. </p>
<p>Conservationists are promoting sustainable forestry, new cooking techniques such as gas stoves, water conservation and planning for groundwater resources, and building wildlife crossings into roads and pipelines.</p>
<h2>Climate change</h2>
<p>Climate change from human-caused <a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc226754/m1/1/">carbon dioxide pollution</a> is forecast to increase temperatures and rainfall in many African savanna areas. Giraffes are unaffected by the higher temperatures observed so far, but increased seasonal rainfall is associated with <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-023-02645-4">lower giraffe survival</a> due to disease and lower food quality. </p>
<p>Over the longer term, more rainfall will create conditions favourable to increased woody plant cover in savannas. This could help giraffes by increasing their food supply, but only if enough natural savanna is preserved from human exploitation.</p>
<h2>Lack of knowledge and awareness</h2>
<p>The fifth major threat to giraffes is the lack of knowledge and awareness about their conservation needs. Giraffes are often overlooked and underrepresented in wildlife research, funding and policy. Many people are unaware that giraffes are endangered and face multiple threats across Africa. </p>
<p>Conservationists are working to increase knowledge and awareness about giraffes locally and worldwide. Scientists are studying giraffe <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22044">demography</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyac007">diet</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13582">behaviour</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.10160">genetics</a>, and there is a large <a href="https://www.africasgiants.org/natures-giants-news">environmental education programme</a> in Tanzania, the US and Europe. </p>
<h2>Creating a safe future for giraffes</h2>
<p>Giraffes are facing a silent extinction crisis in Africa. But there is still hope that they can be saved if people understand and address the threats. </p>
<p>The new <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.16970">study</a> I coauthored ranked threats and looked at potentially mitigating actions. Our simulation showed that the greatest risk factor for local giraffe extinction was a reduction in wildlife law enforcement leading to more poaching. In the model, an increase in law enforcement would mitigate the negative effects of climate change and the expansion of towns along the edges of protected areas. The study highlights the great utility of law enforcement as a nature conservation tool. </p>
<p>Given their vast historical Africa-wide range and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003347219300260">individual home ranges</a> of thousands of hectares, giraffes will not likely survive only within the boundaries of small, fragmented protected areas. I propose as part of our evidence-based recommendations that rangelands used by wildlife and pastoralists as movement pathways be permanently protected from farming, mining and infrastructure. This will give people as well as wide-ranging animals like giraffes freedom to roam. </p>
<p>It will also require the expansion of wildlife law enforcement in village lands outside formal protected areas. </p>
<p>These measures would help make it possible for people and giraffes to thrive together.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215920/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek E. Lee receives funding from Penn State University, Berlin World Wild, Sacramento Zoo, Columbus Zoo, Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, Tulsa Zoo, Zoo Miami, Cincinnati Zoo, Como Park Zoo, Roger Williams Park Zoo, Anne Innis Dagg Foundation, and Save the Giraffes. He is affiliated with Wild Nature Institute.</span></em></p>Giraffes are vulnerable to extinction, mainly due to habitat loss and killing for bushmeat markets. The good news is human actions can alleviate that danger.Derek E. Lee, Associate Research Professor of Biology, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2102632023-08-30T12:15:57Z2023-08-30T12:15:57ZGiraffes range across diverse African habitats − we’re using GPS, satellites and statistics to track and protect them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544746/original/file-20230825-17-am7gat.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C3768%2C2345&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An average giraffe has a home range almost as large as Philadelphia.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Brown</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nearly 6,000 years ago, our ancestors climbed arid rocky outcrops in what is now the Nigerian Sahara and carved spectacularly intricate, larger-than-life renditions of giraffes into the exposed sandstone. The remarkably detailed Dabous giraffe rock art petroglyphs are among <a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA00382353_1067">many ancient petroglyphs featuring giraffes across Africa</a> – a testament to early humans’ fascination with these unique creatures. </p>
<p>We are still <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0199149">captivated by giraffes today</a>, but many of these animals are at risk, largely due to habitat loss and illegal hunting. Some <a href="https://giraffeconservation.org/programmes/giraffe-conservation-status-assessment/">are critically endangered</a>. </p>
<p>To understand how giraffes are faring across Africa, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=f3D2QOcAAAAJ&hl=en">conservation ecologists like me</a> are studying how they interact with their habitats across vast geographic scales. We use space-age technology and advanced statistical approaches that our ancient ancestors could have scarcely imagined to understand how giraffes can better coexist with people. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542627/original/file-20230814-22-vdxtbu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Image of a giraffe carved in red rock." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542627/original/file-20230814-22-vdxtbu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542627/original/file-20230814-22-vdxtbu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542627/original/file-20230814-22-vdxtbu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542627/original/file-20230814-22-vdxtbu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542627/original/file-20230814-22-vdxtbu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542627/original/file-20230814-22-vdxtbu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542627/original/file-20230814-22-vdxtbu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Giraffes are featured prominently in ancient petroglyphs across Africa, such as this one in Twyfelfontein, Namibia, which dates back thousands of years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Brown</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Many habitats and challenges</h2>
<p>Giraffes may all look similar to the casual viewer, but in fact there are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.04.033">four distinct species</a>. By our best estimates, there are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-821139-7.00139-2">roughly 117,000 giraffes remaining in the wild</a>, living in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12165">21 African countries</a>. </p>
<p>Across this huge expanse, giraffes make their homes in many different environments with varied levels of human influence. For example, in the relatively arid Sahel region of Niger, they live among communal farmers entirely outside of formally protected areas. In contrast, along the Nile in Uganda’s national parks, they browse through lush savannas that are formally protected by dedicated rangers. </p>
<p>Each of these areas has unique bioclimatic conditions and conservation philosophies. There is <a href="https://giraffeconservation.org/programmes/conservation-strategies/">no one-size-fits-all approach</a> for protecting giraffe habitats and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10871209.2021.1885768">promoting coexistence with people</a>. </p>
<p>Researchers are taking advantage of these diverse conditions to learn how giraffes move throughout this range. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.0912">In a recently published paper</a>, I worked with colleagues from academia and conservation organizations to conduct the largest ever tracking study to better understand how and why giraffes move at large scales. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542628/original/file-20230814-24-pw6hay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Four images of giraffes in diverse African settings." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542628/original/file-20230814-24-pw6hay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542628/original/file-20230814-24-pw6hay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542628/original/file-20230814-24-pw6hay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542628/original/file-20230814-24-pw6hay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542628/original/file-20230814-24-pw6hay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542628/original/file-20230814-24-pw6hay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542628/original/file-20230814-24-pw6hay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The four species of giraffes inhabit remarkably different habitats across Africa, from lush savannas to desert.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Brown</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Tracking wide-ranging animals</h2>
<p>Over the past decade, our collaborative conservation research team, spearheaded by the <a href="https://giraffeconservation.org/">Giraffe Conservation Foundation</a>, has embarked on an ambitious pan-African giraffe-tracking study to better understand giraffes’ movements across these diverse landscapes. </p>
<p>Each tracking operation contributes to local studies by telling us something interesting about giraffe behavior. For example, we published the first description of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00524">partial migration in a Ugandan giraffe population</a>, showing that giraffes can have complicated seasonal movements. </p>
<p>These studies also are important for guiding local management of giraffes. Partnering with organizations like <a href="https://www.earthranger.com/">EarthRanger</a>, which develops software to support conservation initiatives, we have pioneered the use of animal movement data to inform active conservation management. </p>
<p>We share giraffe location data in real time with rangers in protected areas to guide day-to-day conservation actions. As an example, we run continuous analytics on the giraffe data that alert teams on the ground when a giraffe stops moving or leaves the boundaries of a national park. With this information, teams can follow up quickly and address risks, such as when giraffes might be straying into dangerous areas.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">In October 2021, conservation scientists and local wildlife officials translocated 10 South African giraffes over 1,600 miles (2,600 kilometers) from South Africa to Malawi. There they joined 13 giraffes already in Majete Wildlife Reserve, helping to expand the group into a sustainable population.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To look at these patterns at a larger scale in our recent study, we analyzed GPS tracking data from 148 giraffes, representing all four species from across 10 countries. We wanted to understand how giraffes may change their movements in response to human pressures and the availability of vegetation.</p>
<p>We used environmental data from satellite imagery, linking the giraffes’ locations to the exact conditions that the animals were moving through. Since the work drew from information collected across Africa through different GPS devices, we developed statistical techniques to harmonize the datasets and make the results directly comparable across ecosystems. </p>
<p>Overall, we found that giraffes cover impressively large areas. On average, each animal has a home range of about 140 square miles (360 square kilometers) – <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/philadelphiacitypennsylvania/PST045222">nearly equivalent to the surface area of Philadelphia</a> – and travels about 8.5 miles (14 kilometers) every day. One of the biggest movers in our study, a female northern giraffe in Niger that navigated among communities raising livestock in the dry Sahel, covered a home range of nearly 1,500 square miles (3,860 square kilometers) – larger than the <a href="https://www.ri.gov/facts/history.php">land area of Rhode Island</a>. </p>
<p>Giraffes’ movements changed significantly based on the availability of woody vegetation and the level of human presence. Those in areas with plenty of woody vegetation didn’t cover as much ground as their counterparts in more barren zones, since the former had most of the resources they needed close by. Giraffes also tended to move less in places with significant human development – probably because of man-made barriers to their movements, like settlements, fences and roads.</p>
<p>In mixed areas with some development and some open spaces, we observed that giraffes covered more ground as they navigated these patchy environments. They traveled faster and covered larger areas when they were moving between resource-rich zones and more heavily developed areas.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540456/original/file-20230801-21-xj7o8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two giraffes at the edge of a road watch a car pass." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540456/original/file-20230801-21-xj7o8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540456/original/file-20230801-21-xj7o8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540456/original/file-20230801-21-xj7o8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540456/original/file-20230801-21-xj7o8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540456/original/file-20230801-21-xj7o8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540456/original/file-20230801-21-xj7o8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540456/original/file-20230801-21-xj7o8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Across their range, giraffes are navigating increasingly developed landscapes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Brown, GCF</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Giraffe movements inform conservation</h2>
<p>Understanding how giraffes respond to changes in environmental conditions is critical for their conservation. Climate change is making the availability of vegetation less predictable, and human populations in these areas are continuing to grow. Conservation strategies will need to account for giraffes’ changing movements as the animals respond to these shifts. </p>
<p>It also is important to develop principles for giraffe movement so that we can better predict how they might move in new environments. Conservation groups and governments are increasingly using <a href="https://giraffeconservation.org/programmes/conservation-translocations/">conservation translocations</a> – capturing wild giraffes and moving them to new habitats – as a tool to reestablish populations in areas where giraffes had previously become extinct. </p>
<p>Our movement data from giraffes across Africa is casting new light on their responses to different conditions and providing important information for conserving these iconic animals in a rapidly changing world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210263/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Brown works for the Giraffe Conservation Foundation and is an affiliated researcher for the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. He receives funding from the Giraffe Conservation Foundation and its many supporters and is affiliated with the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.</span></em></p>The largest ever giraffe tracking study shows how these massive animals are responding to human pressures across many different habitats throughout Africa.Michael Brown, Conservation Science Fellow, Smithsonian InstitutionLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2048082023-05-04T20:02:55Z2023-05-04T20:02:55ZResearch shows giraffes can use statistical reasoning. They’re the first animal with a relatively small brain known to do this<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524247/original/file-20230504-16-rgplib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C32%2C4281%2C2554&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bernard Dupont / Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Humans make decisions using statistical information every day. Imagine you’re selecting a packet of jellybeans. If you prefer red jellybeans, you will probably try to find a packet that shows the most red (and less of the dreaded black ones) through the small window. </p>
<p>Since you can’t see all the jellybeans at once, you’re using statistical reasoning to make an informed decision. Even <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0010027713002370?casa_token=WWHDxizwNeQAAAAA:jWpYK69qepFkyc85e4lgP1nHqc3L15XBHvsnJLnjmEtAXvDDDthFAI1DkI4AmhkpNa4DSlK-z2I">infants</a> have this capability. </p>
<p>And as it turns out, humans aren’t alone in using statistical inferences to make decisions. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0010027718301872?casa_token=E9h9-0n57VYAAAAA:pE6DOC0tULN_XCy9b_D0b6YDunFuPz-g9ns0MUM4msKpbSNm1pE029khH3tRqVeb9zMBr3mx7sk">Great apes</a>, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-48543-0">long-tailed macaques</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-14695.1">keas</a> have all been shown to use the relative frequencies of items to predict sampling events.</p>
<p>Now a new study has added giraffes to this list. The research, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-32615-3">published today</a> in Scientific Reports, shows giraffes can use statistical inferences to increase their likelihood of receiving carrot slices rather than zucchini – much like a human picking jellybeans.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524283/original/file-20230504-26-8gxj2c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524283/original/file-20230504-26-8gxj2c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524283/original/file-20230504-26-8gxj2c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524283/original/file-20230504-26-8gxj2c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524283/original/file-20230504-26-8gxj2c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524283/original/file-20230504-26-8gxj2c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524283/original/file-20230504-26-8gxj2c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524283/original/file-20230504-26-8gxj2c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The researchers worked with four giraffes – Nakuru (M), Njano (M), Nuru (F) and Yalinga (F) – living at the Zoo of Barcelona.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alvaro L. Caicoya</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Brain size and statistical skills</h2>
<p>Until now, primates and birds were the only animals to show evidence of statistical reasoning. Both are considered to have large brains relative to body size, which is often linked with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982209015978">higher intelligence</a>. </p>
<p>Researchers at the University of Barcelona, University of Leipzig, and Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology wanted to test whether an animal with a small brain relative to its body size could perform statistical reasoning. </p>
<p>Giraffes were an ideal choice. They have already demonstrated an ability to perform <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-020-01442-8">quantity discrimination</a> (being able to tell a larger amount of items from a smaller amount), and their <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/586708?casa_token=XkkvUHjJj7gAAAAA%3AqNm7kMFu9ThjXc6iixI2VP_CHIY7B-3ZT2nqyr0cuPWcafjwOObkWLK0Zc5oTST-2g7ewXEXKDbL">social systems</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/aje.12324">dietary breadth</a> have been linked with the emergence of complex cognition.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/polly-knows-probability-this-parrot-can-predict-the-chances-of-something-happening-132767">Polly knows probability: this parrot can predict the chances of something happening</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How does a giraffe demonstrate statistical reasoning?</h2>
<p>As it turns out, giraffes love carrots but have only a lukewarm appreciation for zucchinis, making these foods ideal to use in a statistical reasoning task.</p>
<p>Working with four giraffes, the researchers placed different proportions of carrot and zucchini slices into transparent containers to test if the giraffes could predict a higher likelihood of receiving a carrot in three tests of different treat quantities.</p>
<p>Each test consisted of 20 trials in which a researcher selected a piece of food from each container without showing the giraffe. The giraffe then touched the hand it wanted to eat from, using only the information it had from the containers.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SYJM-kLFgTM?wmode=transparent&start=2" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The giraffes were reliably able to select the correct container in the trials of the first test, wherein the correct choice had both a higher quantity of carrots and lower quantity of zucchini slices.</p>
<p>In the second test, the quantity of carrots was the same in both containers, but the correct choice had fewer zucchini slices. Again, the giraffes were able to select correctly. </p>
<p>In the third test, the quantity of zucchini slices remained the same, but the correct container had a larger quantity of carrots. Yet again the giraffes chose correctly.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524300/original/file-20230504-20-bdx9bl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524300/original/file-20230504-20-bdx9bl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524300/original/file-20230504-20-bdx9bl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=165&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524300/original/file-20230504-20-bdx9bl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=165&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524300/original/file-20230504-20-bdx9bl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=165&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524300/original/file-20230504-20-bdx9bl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=207&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524300/original/file-20230504-20-bdx9bl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=207&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524300/original/file-20230504-20-bdx9bl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=207&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Each test of the experiment used different stimuli. Left to right: test 1, test 2 and test 3.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alvaro L. Caicoya et al/Scientific Reports</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The combined results informed the researchers whether giraffes were using relative frequencies (statistical reasoning) or simply comparing absolute quantities of their preferred or non-preferred food.</p>
<p>Since the giraffes succeeded in all three tests, the researchers concluded they had used statistical inferences. If the giraffes had only been looking at the absolute quantities of the carrots, they would have succeeded in the first and second tests only, and failed the third.</p>
<h2>Do you need a large brain for statistical reasoning?</h2>
<p>Evidence of statistical reasoning in giraffes suggests relatively large brains are not required to evolve complex statistical skills – at least in vertebrates (animals with backbones). Furthermore, the authors propose the ability to make statistical inferences may actually be widespread in the animal kingdom.</p>
<p>The question now is: how many other animals with small brains relative to their body size could also succeed in this task?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/one-then-some-how-to-count-like-a-bee-138815">One, then some: how to count like a bee</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204808/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scarlett Howard received funding from Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship, RMIT University, Fyssen Foundation, L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science Young Talents French Award, and Deakin University. She is affiliated with Pint of Science Australia as the Media Manager volunteer.</span></em></p>Giraffes are the latest animals to show they can solve tasks using statistical reasoning – and the only one to do this with a small brain relative to body size.Scarlett Howard, Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1682122021-09-29T15:00:22Z2021-09-29T15:00:22ZRewilding: conservationists want to let elephants loose in Europe – here’s what could happen<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423660/original/file-20210928-15-69p37o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C2207%2C1701&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Large herbivores like elephants used to roam wide swathes of Europe and Asia.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Heather Wall</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine driving through a lush, green landscape in France or Germany and spotting a herd of elephants roaming freely. As absurd as that might seem, it was only <a href="https://royalsociety.org/topics-we%20policy/projects/biodiversity/decline-and-extinction/">10,000 years</a> ago that creatures the size of elephants populated continents like Europe. That’s a blip in evolutionary terms.</p>
<p>In the last 10,000 to 60,000 years, humans have almost single-handedly eliminated <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1400103">around 80%</a> of the world’s herbivore species that weigh over a tonne – known as “<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/life-sciences/ecology-and-conservation/megaherbivores-influence-very-large-body-size-ecology?format=PB">megaherbivores</a>”. The last living mammoth, for instance, was wandering around Wrangel Island off the coast of Siberia as recently as <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/quaternary-research/article/abs/collection-of-radiocarbon-dates-on-the-mammoths-mammuthus-primigenius-and-other-genera-of-wrangel-island-northeast-siberia-russia/DA6977370F5578DA1669462F0472F6D1">3,700 years</a> ago.</p>
<p>This massive loss of megaherbivores in such a relatively short period has had <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/113/4/847">effects on vegetation</a> that we can <a href="https://www.science.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aao5987">still see today</a>, like promoting different types and sizes of plants. <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/113/4/847">By eating</a> trees, shrubs, grasses and herbs – like elephants and giraffes in Africa – these giants play a crucial role in maintaining a diverse and healthy landscape, with a balance between woodlands and grasslands.</p>
<p>For instance, elephants knock over trees, giving more space for grasses to grow and helping savannah ecosystems to flourish. They are also critical for dispersing seeds across landscapes and helping to recycle nutrients in the soil. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Elephants walk by a lake" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423591/original/file-20210928-24-ybeyc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423591/original/file-20210928-24-ybeyc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423591/original/file-20210928-24-ybeyc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423591/original/file-20210928-24-ybeyc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423591/original/file-20210928-24-ybeyc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423591/original/file-20210928-24-ybeyc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423591/original/file-20210928-24-ybeyc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Elephants could help rebalance ecosystems in Europe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/photos/elephants-herd-safari-calves-279505/">Cocoparisienne/Pixabay</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To <a href="https://wwf.panda.org/discover/knowledge_hub/teacher_resources/webfieldtrips/ecological_balance/">restore balance</a> to ecosystems damaged by factors including the loss of larger creatures, some have proposed bringing back <a href="https://askabiologist.asu.edu/pleistocene-rewilding-and-de-extinction#:%7E:text=Pleistocene%20rewilding%20is%20an%20idea,of%20areas%20across%20the%20world.&text=The%20idea%20is%20to%20bring,lack%20of%20habitat%20and%20poaching.">lost species</a> – which could include megaherbivores. This is already being promoted in Africa by organisations such as <a href="https://www.spaceforgiants.org/">Space for Giants</a> and <a href="https://www.africanparks.org/">African Parks</a>. The problem is that we know very little about how reintroducing these giants could affect smaller species, some of which are facing extinction themselves.</p>
<p>In a study published in the <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.13565?af=R">Journal of Animal Ecology</a>, we shed light on the consequences of reintroducing such species into ecosystems that have lost them, by looking at how they affect life in a Kenyan savannah.</p>
<h2>Our study</h2>
<p>By excluding elephants and giraffes from an area in the savannah using electric fences, we studied how other animals in the area would respond to their absence. Our methods were simple, but smelly: over 12 years, we counted the dung piles of 12 species of smaller herbivores such as impalas, zebras, gazelles and buffaloes. This enabled us to assess whether these animals preferred to hang out in areas with or without elephants and giraffes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An illustration of an elephant" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423779/original/file-20210929-23-gz9ni1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423779/original/file-20210929-23-gz9ni1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423779/original/file-20210929-23-gz9ni1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423779/original/file-20210929-23-gz9ni1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423779/original/file-20210929-23-gz9ni1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423779/original/file-20210929-23-gz9ni1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423779/original/file-20210929-23-gz9ni1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Elephants’ grazing habits can drastically change landscapes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Taki Wells</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found that most animals, particularly the smallest ones, preferred the elephant and giraffe-free zones. In fact, zebras were the only animals that preferred the areas with these megaherbivores, perhaps due to zebras’ preference for wide open spaces with fewer trees and more grass (neither elephants nor giraffes eat much grass).</p>
<p>Our findings suggest that restoring megaherbivore populations will reduce habitats that smaller herbivores prefer. This is particularly important to consider in areas where smaller species are already endangered. But this doesn’t mean we should discount the value of reintroducing megaherbivores altogether. </p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>In Denmark, researchers <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/113/4/898">have proposed</a> introducing Asian elephants to a site near Copenhagen. They are the closest living relatives of mammoths, which we’ve not yet been able <a href="https://reviverestore.org/projects/woolly-mammoth/">to resurrect</a>. Similarly, there are already over 100 captive Asian elephants in the United States, which could be allowed to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/436913a">roam freely</a> in larger enclosures. </p>
<p>Plans like these would increase the habitat and population of larger endangered species. They would also provide valuable opportunities to observe megaherbivores’ impacts on native plants and animals before larger-scale releases are considered, while improving the welfare of captive elephants.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A model of a woolly mammoth" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423594/original/file-20210928-26-jd2zg3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423594/original/file-20210928-26-jd2zg3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423594/original/file-20210928-26-jd2zg3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423594/original/file-20210928-26-jd2zg3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423594/original/file-20210928-26-jd2zg3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423594/original/file-20210928-26-jd2zg3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423594/original/file-20210928-26-jd2zg3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mammoths used to populate wide swathes of Europe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/quinet/44598416660/">Quinet/Flickr</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another example can be found in Australia, where researchers <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/482030a">have suggested</a> that introducing wild elephants and rhinos could help to control wildfires. By eating lots of plants that, when dry, fuel more frequent and hotter fires, the large animals could mimic the ecological role of species like the now-extinct <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/117/14/7871">1.5 tonne wombat</a>.</p>
<p>However, until such experiments actually take place in Europe, North America or Australia, we must rely on what is known about similar species in other ecosystems to have an idea of what to expect.</p>
<p>It’s important to point out that, just as elephants and giraffes reduce tree densities that have increased in their absence, their effects on other herbivores are likely a sign of the ecosystem and food supply returning to their more natural, healthiest states. This shouldn’t be an issue as long as we ensure, through careful planning and monitoring, that other plant and animal species aren’t being threatened with extinction due to rewilding interventions.</p>
<p>Whether we introduce ecological replacements for extinct giants or return existing megaherbivores to their former stomping grounds, the potential ecological impacts of reintroducing such large creatures on native plants and animals should not be overlooked as we <a href="https://www.decadeonrestoration.org/">ramp up</a> rewilding efforts globally.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168212/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Harry Wells works for Space for Giants. He is affiliated with The University of Leeds and the Lolldaiga Hills Research Programme. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nora Ward is affiliated with the National University of Ireland, Galway, where she works as a lecturer.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ramiro D Crego is affiliated with the National Zoo and Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, where he is a Post-doctoral research fellow. </span></em></p>It sounds like a mammoth plan, but bringing back large herbivore species to Europe could help mitigate ecosystem collapse.Harry Wells, Research Ecologist, University of LeedsNora Ward, Lecturer in Philosophy, University of GalwayRamiro D. Crego, Postdoctoral Researcher, National Zoo and Smithsonian Conservation Biology InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1033872018-10-11T13:44:12Z2018-10-11T13:44:12ZUnderstanding a skin disease that’s peculiar to giraffes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239118/original/file-20181003-52691-3cyy9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A herd of Masai giraffe towering over zebras in Ruaha National Park, Tanzania.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Provided by author</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two years ago, the conservation status of giraffes was downgraded from <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/full/9194/0">“least concern” to “vulnerable”</a> after it was discovered that the species had declined by 40% over the past 30 years. </p>
<p>Giraffe populations are largely threatened by human activities. These include habitat loss and fragmentation, civil unrest, illegal hunting, poaching and climate change. </p>
<p>Protecting them has become a priority. This is particularly true in East Africa which is home to an estimated 55.2% of the remaining 100,000 giraffes living in the wild in Africa. They are mostly concentrated in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. </p>
<p>Our research identified another <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320716301501">threat</a>, a disease generically referred to as Giraffe Skin Disease. The disease is characterised by large greyish-brown lesions that form on various parts of a giraffe’s body. We conducted our research in 2014 and by 2015 Giraffe Skin Disease was recorded in seven African countries – Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1365-2664.12796">disease</a> is most prevalent in East Africa, where it affects 86% of the giraffes in Ruaha National Park, Tanzania. </p>
<p>The disease can break out in different parts of a giraffe’s body depending where they’re located. For example, in Tanzania giraffes’ legs are affected while in Uganda it tends to be the neck and shoulders. </p>
<p>We were unable to establish whether the disease was fatal. But we concluded that it’s possible giraffe are made more vulnerable to predators if they have lesions that make fleeing a predator difficult. </p>
<p>Our research revealed that skin disease is more widespread than initially thought and more conservation research is required. The disease was first described in Uganda in 1994 and in Tanzania in 2000. Yet it’s only recently that researchers have started to study it in detail.</p>
<h2>Threats</h2>
<p>Giraffes face unprecedented risks as the region experiences some of the fastest human <a href="https://eastafricamonitor.com/east-africa-growing-population-putting-pressure-region/">population growth</a> rates in the world. One of consequences is likely to be subsistence hunting. According to conservation organisations in southern Kenya, if a poacher manages to sell meat as well as parts from a single giraffe, the return can fetch a minimum of $1,000. This is enough to purchase a motorbike. </p>
<p>In northern Tanzania, giraffe parts are used in traditional medicine. And giraffe bone marrow and brains are <a href="http://www.khoisanpeoples.org/news-1/san-news-08-01-1.htm">incorrectly believed to cure AIDS</a>. </p>
<p>Poison arrows, spears, and rifles are used to kill giraffes. However, the most common tools used are wire snares attached to trees. These typically capture giraffes around their necks or legs. In areas such as Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda, giraffes aren’t necessarily the intended target when caught in snares. The traps are set to capture smaller antelope for food but can trap giraffes. The injuries they sustain can be fatal. </p>
<p>Giraffe skin disease is reportedly caused by a parasitic worm – the specific species of the worm has not been identified. The severity of the lesions is further complicated by secondary fungal infections. While the severe form of the disease restricts the movement of giraffes, very few studies have examined the exact cause of the disease and its physiological effects. In addition, it is still unclear whether the disease leads to mortality. </p>
<p>As humans and wildlife become more interactive with increasing encroachment of wildlife habitats, there should be a bigger focus on wildlife diseases. Understanding the effects of these skin disease lesions will undoubtedly help advance giraffe conservation as the role of diseases in the decline of giraffe populations across Africa is still unclear.</p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>For a long time, conservation issues have been addressed from an ecological perspective, not taking into account the human dimensions of conservation. To this end, the socio-economic and cultural importance of giraffes remains poorly understood and documented. </p>
<p>One of our projects, the <a href="https://www.recaplaboratory.com/snares-to-wares.html">Snares to Wares Initiative</a>, seeks to address this. The initiative reuses the raw wire from snares set in Murchison Falls National Park to create wire art, which is sold around the world. This addresses a conservation and human livelihood issue by providing benefits and an alternative source of income to young locals. The initiative also trains students through the Research on the Ecology of Carnivores and their Prey Laboratory. </p>
<p>Knowledge gaps and lack of incentives for wildlife conservation deter local communities from contributing towards preservation of wildlife and wild spaces. The lab’s approach is to recruit students from different backgrounds working collaboratively to address conservation issues. The students gain skills in socio-economics and wildlife ecology and drive conservation efforts from the East African region and beyond.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103387/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arthur Muneza works for the Giraffe Conservation Foundation as the East Africa Coordinator. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Montgomery does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The number of giraffes in Africa has dropped by 40% over the past 30 years, but the reasons for this remain largely unknown.Arthur Muneza, PhD candidate, Michigan State University, Michigan State UniversityRobert Montgomery, Assistant Professor, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/925372018-03-01T14:09:35Z2018-03-01T14:09:35ZCommunity-based wildlife conservation is bringing success to Tanzania<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208459/original/file-20180301-152584-j89ue2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In the Randilen Wildlife Management Area. higher densities of giraffes and dik-diks were found.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author supplied</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Good news about the environment is rare these days. But in Tanzania there are signs that community-based wildlife conservation efforts can effectively protect the natural resources that provide the lion’s share of revenue <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyy014">for the economy</a>. </p>
<p>Tanzania is the most popular tourism <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201802150697.html">destination in the East African region</a>. Tourism generates around <a href="https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/countries-2017/tanzania2017.pdf">US$6 billion annually</a> for the country. It brings in a quarter of its foreign exchange earnings, regularly surpassing the <a href="https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/countries-2017/tanzania2017.pdf">minerals and energy sectors</a>. Most of the country’s offerings fall under the banner of eco-tourism – tourism focused on experiencing natural environments. The sector represents 13% of Tanzania’s total GDP, and employs around 700 000 people directly and 1.5 million people indirectly. </p>
<p>Tanzania’s wildlife resources include the last intact fully functioning savanna wilderness ecosystem in Africa, the <a href="https://www.andbeyond.com/destinations/africa/tanzania/serengeti-national-park/">Serengeti</a>. It also has the world’s largest terrestrial mammal migration – the <a href="https://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/wildebeest_migration">Serengeti wildebeest migration</a>. It is also home to the world’s highest densities of <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/39">predators</a> in Ngorongoro and <a href="https://www.travelbutlers.com/tanzania/tarangire/">elephants</a> in Tarangire. </p>
<p>But Tanzania’s wildlife resources are under threat. Wildlife populations have suffered <a href="http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/News/Tanzania-faces-decline-in-wildlife-population--report/1840340-3931904-10yao9w/index.html">from poaching</a> while there have also been clashes between wildlife and people involved in other economic activities like <a href="http://www.tzonline.org/pdf/humanwildlifeconflictsintanzania.pdf">farming and mining.</a> </p>
<p>On top of this, the benefits of wildlife-based tourism are not shared equally. Poverty in communities that live around protected wildlife areas is higher compared with <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/204341467992501917/pdf/96150-REVISED-PN-P150523-PUBLIC-Box393206B.pdf">other rural areas</a>.</p>
<p>There is, nevertheless, some good news. In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyy014">new study</a> we found that wildlife conservation that focuses on communities can quickly result in clear ecological success. </p>
<h2>Putting communities first</h2>
<p>A <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/204341467992501917/pdf/96150-REVISED-PN-P150523-PUBLIC-Box393206B.pdf">World Bank analysis</a> found that economic developments like higher-intensity tourism, mining, road development and agriculture which degrade existing wildlife resources would result in an overall loss to the Tanzanian economy. </p>
<p>The report suggested that the most successful overall development strategy should maximise tourism revenue by increasing quality over quantity. And that it should strengthen links with the local economy by sharing benefits with those who live close to tourist attractions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208458/original/file-20180301-152587-1gre6zx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208458/original/file-20180301-152587-1gre6zx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208458/original/file-20180301-152587-1gre6zx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208458/original/file-20180301-152587-1gre6zx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208458/original/file-20180301-152587-1gre6zx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208458/original/file-20180301-152587-1gre6zx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208458/original/file-20180301-152587-1gre6zx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208458/original/file-20180301-152587-1gre6zx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Masai giraffe and fringe-eared Oryx found in the Randilen Wildlife Management Area.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author supplied</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This strategy lies at the heart of community-based natural resource management. The most important part of the approach is that user rights are transferred from central government to local communities. The model is being increasingly promoted as a conservation tool and has become the dominant approach in <a href="https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/2011-122.pdf">natural resource conservation worldwide</a>. </p>
<p>Tanzania’s approach to community-based natural resource management has been through the establishment of <a href="http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pdacy083.pdf">Wildlife Management Areas</a>. Here, a few villages set aside land for wildlife conservation in return for the majority of tourism revenues from these areas. This policy promotes wildlife management at the village level by allowing rural communities and private landholders to manage wildlife on their land for their own benefit. </p>
<p>These areas often act as buffers around national parks to increase available wildlife habitat along park borders and to keep human activities away from the park itself. There are 19 of these areas in operation with another 19 planned. The existing Wildlife Management Areas make up 7% of <a href="http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pdacy083.pdf">Tanzania’s land area</a>.</p>
<h2>An ecological success story</h2>
<p>The effectiveness of these type of projects to protect wildlife is not well known. A recent <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/109/52/21265">study showed</a> that only 13% of 159 community-based natural resource management projects measured ecological outcomes. </p>
<p>In our paper we carefully analysed these outcomes by studying the newly formed Randilen Wildlife Management Area. We documented significantly higher densities of giraffes (<em>Giraffe camelopardalis</em>) and dik-diks (<em>Madoqua kirkii</em>). </p>
<p>The increases in wildlife densities was accompanied by lower densities of cattle. More wildlife and fewer livestock meets the definition of ecological success. Hopefully these results will encourage more community-based conservation efforts. Most programmes like this simultaneously promote conservation and human development. </p>
<p>Our study did not assess changes to local livelihoods. But we did note that some financial benefits were accruing in these areas. Communities have more power and resources to manage land and wildlife. Participating villages are receiving a direct share of income <a href="http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pdacy083.pdf">from wildlife tourism</a>.</p>
<p>Our study showed that these wildlife areas can provide effective wildlife conservation. Most community-based natural resource management programmes have only <a href="http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1641/0006-3568%282000%29050%5B0585%3ACWIAIC%5D2.0.CO%3B2">limited success</a> at achieving both conservation and human development goals. But the concept appears to be the best opportunity for Tanzania to achieve these two outcomes. It can help the country retain its place as one of the most famous and profitable wildlife tourism destinations in the world. And it can also contribute to other economic sectors and alleviate rural poverty.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92537/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek E. Lee receives funding from Rufford Foundation, African Wildlife Foundation, Columbus Zoo, Sacramento Zoo, Living Desert Zoo, Tierpark Berlin, Cincinnati Zoo, Tulsa Zoo, World Giraffe Foundation, and Save the Giraffes. He is affiliated with Wild Nature Institute and Penn State University. </span></em></p>A new study found that community-based wildlife conservation can quickly result in clear ecological success.Derek E. Lee, Associate Research Professor of Biology, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/773802017-05-17T17:26:57Z2017-05-17T17:26:57ZGiraffes are in trouble – the US Endangered Species Act can help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169641/original/file-20170517-24341-oq6dor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1101%2C93%2C4082%2C3018&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A little protection over here, please?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Giraffe-Park/36c2043572634a94abc6159640462260/9/0">AP Photo/Harry Hamburg</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On April 19 of this year, <a href="http://www.ifaw.org/united-states/news/us-endangered-species-act-protection-sought-giraffes">five major wildlife protection groups</a> petitioned the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to list the giraffe (<em>Giraffa camelopardalis</em>) as an endangered species. <a href="http://www.ifaw.org/sites/default/files/default/Giraffe_ESA_Petition_final.pdf">As the petition asserted</a>, “the giraffe has suffered a major reduction in population size across its range primarily due to habitat loss, commercial overutilization, and severe poaching, and such decline continues unabated.”</p>
<p>If the Fish and Wildlife Service agrees to list the giraffe, a set of legal tools will become available to protect this iconic species. But how would listing in the U.S. help this African mammal, whose population numbers in the wild have <a href="https://giraffeconservation.org/giraffe-species/">dipped below 100,000</a>? </p>
<h2>Extinction is forever</h2>
<p>While extinction can be a natural process, the current rate of extinction is anything but. Scientists estimate that at least 99 out of 100 species extinctions in the world today are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1400253">the result of human action</a>. Although people rarely intend to drive species into oblivion, as with the giraffe, they do so through the destruction of habitat, poaching and legal hunting. As the petition notes, “[g]iraffes once occupied much of the savanna and savanna woodlands of Africa…. [It] has undergone a 36 to 40 percent population decline over the past 30 years.”</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169587/original/file-20170516-11945-1sifhl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169587/original/file-20170516-11945-1sifhl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169587/original/file-20170516-11945-1sifhl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169587/original/file-20170516-11945-1sifhl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169587/original/file-20170516-11945-1sifhl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169587/original/file-20170516-11945-1sifhl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169587/original/file-20170516-11945-1sifhl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169587/original/file-20170516-11945-1sifhl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Now the only place you’ll see a passenger pigeon is stuffed in a museum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bensutherland/252246647">Ben Sutherland</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More than a century ago, scientists began to notice the disappearance of once prominent species around the world. The <a href="http://www.audubon.org/magazine/may-june-2014/why-passenger-pigeon-went-extinct">American passenger pigeon</a>, the <a href="http://johnjames.audubon.org/last-carolina-parakeet">Carolina parakeet</a> and the <a href="http://johnjames.audubon.org/extinction-great-auk">Great Auk</a> – once well-established in North America – disappeared. Other species like the American bison and many kinds of whales had once played central roles in important ecosystems but had been reduced to small remnant populations.</p>
<p>The existence of species is important to people for many reasons. Sometimes species provide <a href="https://www.nwf.org/%7E/media/PDFs/Wildlife/medicinalbenefits9-06.ashx">clues for the development of medicines</a>. Often they play a fundamental role in <a href="http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/UW/UW06400.pdf">maintaining the functioning of ecosystems</a> on which people depend. As Aldo Leopold – perhaps America’s most famous naturalist – <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/round-river-9780195015638?cc=us&lang=en&#">noted</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What would you say to a child who saw a giraffe in a book and asked where giraffes lived? Would you be comfortable saying they’re all gone?</p>
<h2>Roots of regulation</h2>
<p>In 1964, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/about/introduction">began tracking the conservation status of species</a> on its “<a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org">Red List</a>.” Although the IUCN provides information only about the status of species, this is the first step in helping to limit extinction because it allows conservation efforts to be directed where they’re most needed.</p>
<p>A few years later in the United States, the <a href="https://www.fws.gov/endangered/laws-policies/esa-history.html">federal government began keeping an official list</a> of species in danger of extinction – what we call endangered species – and species likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future – threatened species.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.fws.gov/endangered/laws-policies/esa.html">Endangered Species Act</a> (ESA), passed in 1973, goes further than just identifying imperiled species. Under its terms, listed species are protected from actions “authorized, funded or carried out” by the federal government that may jeopardize their continued existence or adversely affect their essential habitat. Species members are also protected from direct harm by any person. Commerce in species protected by the ESA is generally a crime.</p>
<p>The purpose of the ESA is the “conservation” of protected species. In practice, that means bringing the species back to the point where it no longer requires the protection of the ESA. The law’s goal is not to preserve tiny populations on the brink of extinction but to recover species populations that are resilient enough to survive the bad luck which is so often part of living on the planet.</p>
<p>Listing is the public, administrative process whereby a species can become entitled to protection under the Endangered Species Act. It centers around one question: Is this creature or plant in danger of extinction? At the listing stage, the federal government can consider only scientific evidence in making its decision. Anyone can initiate the listing process via petition.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169642/original/file-20170517-24337-dqysh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169642/original/file-20170517-24337-dqysh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169642/original/file-20170517-24337-dqysh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169642/original/file-20170517-24337-dqysh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169642/original/file-20170517-24337-dqysh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169642/original/file-20170517-24337-dqysh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169642/original/file-20170517-24337-dqysh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169642/original/file-20170517-24337-dqysh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 2016 ceremony for the delisting of the island fox, which federal officials announced had recovered enough under a dozen years of protection by the ESA to be reclassified.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Island-Fox/2c80cbf62cc8417784da38e59f20f172/1/0">AP Photo/Reed Saxon</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Evidence suggests the ESA works. A recent report in the Endangered Species Bulletin noted that of the 78 species first listed under the federal precursor to the Endangered Species Act in 1967, <a href="https://www.fws.gov/endangered/news/episodes/bu-Spring2017/coverstory/index.html">only four have been officially declared extinct</a> after half a century. Many others, such as the California condor, the grizzly bear and <a href="https://www.fws.gov/endangered/news/episodes/bu-Spring2017/story3/">the whooping crane</a>, have seen remarkable <a href="https://www.fws.gov/Endangered/map/index.html">recovery progress</a>. Some, <a href="https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/profile/speciesProfile?spcode=B008">including the bald eagle</a>, have even been removed from the list.</p>
<p>There are now <a href="https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/reports/box-score-report">1,382 species of animals listed under the Endangered Species Act</a> as threatened or endangered; 711 live largely within the borders of the United States. For these species, the federal Endangered Species Act can help preserve habitat, require “consultation” on projects that need federal approval and make most hunting illegal.</p>
<h2>American listing for an African animal</h2>
<p>The giraffe, of course, is not native to the United States. How would ESA listing help it? The habitat destruction and overharvesting that threaten the giraffe aren’t happening within U.S. borders.</p>
<p>The answer lies in the role the United States plays in buying and selling giraffe parts. According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service database, <a href="http://www.ifaw.org/sites/default/files/default/Giraffe_ESA_Petition_final.pdf#page=%5B8%5D">over the past decade Americans imported</a> more than 21,000 giraffe bone carvings, more than 3,000 skin pieces and 3,744 hunting trophies. If many people want giraffe parts, the demand can be too high for survival of the species. Heightened demand for giraffe products can encourage people to hunt illegally – for example, taking more giraffes than limits allow or hunting in places where it is not permitted.</p>
<p>An international treaty, the <a href="https://cites.org/">Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora</a> (1973), known by its acronym, CITES, also addresses this problem. Countries that are party to the treaty <a href="https://cites.org/sites/default/files/eng/disc/CITES-Convention-EN.pdf">meet periodically to list species</a> that are threatened due to international trade. The treaty has two appendices for listing species: Appendix I results in an almost complete ban on commercial international trade; Appendix II requires all international trade in that species be monitored and subject to permits. The giraffe is not currently listed on <a href="https://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php">either of the CITES appendices</a>, but this does not prevent individual countries – such as the United States – from deciding to limit imports.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169644/original/file-20170517-24313-1eskfq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169644/original/file-20170517-24313-1eskfq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169644/original/file-20170517-24313-1eskfq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169644/original/file-20170517-24313-1eskfq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169644/original/file-20170517-24313-1eskfq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169644/original/file-20170517-24313-1eskfq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169644/original/file-20170517-24313-1eskfq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169644/original/file-20170517-24313-1eskfq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">For centuries, shark fin, usually served as soup, has been a coveted delicacy in Chinese cooking.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Shark-Finning/4f2a0db541834a4e9727f38d95773a5f/2/0">AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Around the world, markets for species parts are sometimes driven by traditional uses – things like carving ivory or using certain animal parts in traditional medicines. New uses fuel demand too; think of newly wealthy businessmen in Vietnam <a href="http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/trafficrhinoreportsummary.pdf">consuming rhino horn</a> mixed with water or alcohol to show how rich they are. Sometimes, the two can converge: An increase in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2016/mar/10/shark-fin-soup-a-dangerous-delicacy-for-humans-and-sharks-alike">consumption of shark fin soup</a> has been tied to a traditional celebration dish being served by more people as China’s middle class grew.</p>
<p>Listing on the ESA would require the federal government to limit imports of giraffe parts into the United States and would therefore help curtail global demand. The ESA cannot ensure habitat protection or require other countries to take affirmative conservation action to protect the giraffe. But listing in the U.S. would limit one important threat in which Americans do play a role.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77380/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annecoos Wiersema is a member of the Accountability Panel of the Wildlife Justice Commission and a member of the IUCN's World Commission on Environmental Law.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Federico Cheever does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Giraffe populations have declined by more than a third over the past 30 years. Two wildlife law experts explain the protections that would come with including them on a US list of endangered species.Federico Cheever, Professor of Environmental and Natural Resources Law, University of DenverAnnecoos Wiersema, Professor of International Law, University of DenverLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/702542016-12-13T19:01:05Z2016-12-13T19:01:05ZIt’s time to stand tall for imperilled giraffes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149778/original/image-20161213-25521-wrse8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Giraffes' future is much less secure than many people had imagined.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Craig Fraser/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pardon the pun, but it’s time to stick our necks out for giraffes. We have mistakenly taken the world’s tallest mammal for granted, fretting far more about other beloved animals such as rhinos, elephants and great apes. </p>
<p>But now it seems that all is not well in giraffe-land, with <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-09/giraffe-listed-as-vulnerable-%E2%80%98silent-extinction%E2%80%99-report-warns/8105770">reports emerging</a> that they may be staring extinction in the face.</p>
<p>Why? For starters, thanks to modern molecular genetics, we have just realised that what we thought was one species of giraffe is in fact <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giraffe#/media/File:Giraffa_distribution.svg">four</a>, split into between seven and nine distinct subspecies. That’s a lot more biodiversity to worry about.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149774/original/image-20161213-25487-1831ktb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149774/original/image-20161213-25487-1831ktb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149774/original/image-20161213-25487-1831ktb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149774/original/image-20161213-25487-1831ktb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149774/original/image-20161213-25487-1831ktb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149774/original/image-20161213-25487-1831ktb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149774/original/image-20161213-25487-1831ktb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149774/original/image-20161213-25487-1831ktb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The current distribution of recognised giraffe species and subspecies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Narayanese at English Wikipedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even more disturbing is the fact that giraffe populations are collapsing. Where once they roamed widely across Africa’s savannas and woodlands, they now occupy <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giraffidae">less than half</a> of the real estate they did a century ago. </p>
<p>Where they still persist, giraffe populations are increasingly sparse and fragmented. Their total numbers have <a href="https://giraffeconservation.org/2016/12/08/iucnredlist-giraffe-vulnerable/">fallen by 40% in just the past two decades</a>, and they have disappeared entirely from <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/giraffes-silently-slip-endangered-species-list-180961372/">seven African countries</a>.</p>
<p>Among the most imperilled is the West African giraffe, a subspecies now found only in Niger. It dwindled to just 50 individuals in the 1990s, and was only saved by <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/nearly-extinct-giraffe-subspecies-enjoys-conservation-success/">desperate last-ditch efforts</a> from conservationists and the Niger government. </p>
<p>As a result of these sharp declines, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature recently changed giraffes’ <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/9194/0">overall conservation status</a> from “Least Concern” to “Vulnerable”. In biological terms, that’s like a ship’s pilot suddenly bellowing “iceberg dead ahead!”</p>
<h2>Tall order</h2>
<p>Why are giraffes declining so abruptly? One reason is that they reproduce slowly, as might be expected of a big animal that formerly had to contend only with occasional attacks by lions, hyenas and tribal hunters, and as a result is not well adapted to our hostile modern world.</p>
<p>Giraffes today are being hit by much more than traditional enemies. According to the United Nations, Africa’s population of 1.1 billion people is growing so fast that it could <a href="http://www.citylab.com/design/2014/09/africas-population-will-quadruple-by-2100-what-does-that-mean-for-its-cities/380507/">quadruple this century</a>. These extra people are using lots more land for farming, livestock and burgeoning cities.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149780/original/image-20161213-25487-as0kvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149780/original/image-20161213-25487-as0kvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149780/original/image-20161213-25487-as0kvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149780/original/image-20161213-25487-as0kvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149780/original/image-20161213-25487-as0kvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149780/original/image-20161213-25487-as0kvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149780/original/image-20161213-25487-as0kvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149780/original/image-20161213-25487-as0kvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Blocked by fences: a giraffe held in a small game reserve in South Africa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bill Laurance</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Beyond this, Africa has become a <a href="http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2449005/africas_ecosystems_%20imperilled_by_mining_frenzy.html">feeding ground</a> for foreign corporations, especially big mining firms from China, Australia and elsewhere. To export bulk commodities such as iron, copper and aluminium ore, China in particular has gone on a frenzy of road, railway and port building.</p>
<p>Fuelled by a flood of foreign currency, Africa’s infrastructure is booming. A total of 33 “development corridors” – centred around ambitious highway and rail networks – have been proposed or are under active construction. <a href="https://theconversation.com/massive-road-and-rail-projects-could-be-africas-greatest-environmental-challenge-51188">Our research</a> shows that these projects would total more than 53,000km in length, crisscrossing the continent and opening up vast expanses of remote, biologically rich ecosystems to new development pressures.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149775/original/image-20161213-25521-rca9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149775/original/image-20161213-25521-rca9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149775/original/image-20161213-25521-rca9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149775/original/image-20161213-25521-rca9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149775/original/image-20161213-25521-rca9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149775/original/image-20161213-25521-rca9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149775/original/image-20161213-25521-rca9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149775/original/image-20161213-25521-rca9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Proposed and ongoing ‘development corridors’ in sub-Saharan Africa, ranked by the relative conservation value of habitats likely to be affected by each corridor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bill Laurance/Sean Sloan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meanwhile, giraffes are struggling to cope with poachers armed with powerful automatic rifles rather than customary weapons such as spears. As shown in this <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/wildlife-giraffes-garamba-national-park-poaching-tails/">poignant video</a>, giraffes are commonly killed merely for their tails, which are valued as a status symbol and dowry gift by some African cultures. </p>
<h2>Time to act</h2>
<p>For a group of species about which we had been largely complacent, the sudden shift to “Vulnerable” status for giraffes is a red flag telling us it’s time for action. </p>
<p>Giraffes’ sweeping decline reflects a much wider trend in wildlife populations. A recent WWF report forecasts that we are on track to <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/26/world/wild-animals-disappear-report-wwf/">lose two-thirds</a> of all individual birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish on Earth by 2020. Species in tropical nations are doing especially poorly.</p>
<p>What can we do? A critical first step is to help African nations develop their natural resources and economies in ways that don’t decimate nature. This is an urgent challenge that hinges on improving <a href="https://theconversation.com/global-roadmap-shows-where-to-put-roads-without-costing-the-earth-30815">land-use planning</a>, governance and protection of <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aje.12377/abstract">nature reserves</a> and imperilled wildlife.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149782/original/image-20161213-25524-1qm6n6g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149782/original/image-20161213-25524-1qm6n6g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149782/original/image-20161213-25524-1qm6n6g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149782/original/image-20161213-25524-1qm6n6g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149782/original/image-20161213-25524-1qm6n6g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149782/original/image-20161213-25524-1qm6n6g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149782/original/image-20161213-25524-1qm6n6g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149782/original/image-20161213-25524-1qm6n6g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Woodland clearing for agriculture in Botswana’s Okavango Delta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jeremy Hance</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We can also use emerging technologies to help us. For example, it is now possible to monitor illegal deforestation, road-building and other illicit activities virtually in real time, thanks to <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fee.1316/abstract">remarkable advances</a> in satellites, drones, computing and crowdsourcing. </p>
<p>What’s more, affordable <a href="http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/africa/explore/giraffes-in-peril.xml">automatic cameras</a> are being widely used to monitor the status of wildlife populations. These are particularly useful for giraffes, which have individual mottling patterns as distinctive as human fingerprints.</p>
<p>But all the technology in the world won’t save wildlife if we don’t address the fundamental drivers of Africa’s plight: its booming population and desperate needs for equitable social and sustainable development. </p>
<p>Ignoring these basic needs while tackling poaching and illegal road-building is akin to plugging the holes in a dam while ignoring the rising flood-waters that threaten to spill over its top.</p>
<p>We have to redouble our efforts, pushing for conservation and more sustainable societies all at once – plugging the holes while at the same time building the dam higher. </p>
<p>For the stately giraffe and the rest of Africa’s declining wildlife, it’s time for us to stand tall – or else wave goodbye.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149779/original/image-20161213-25510-1s2c3vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149779/original/image-20161213-25510-1s2c3vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149779/original/image-20161213-25510-1s2c3vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149779/original/image-20161213-25510-1s2c3vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149779/original/image-20161213-25510-1s2c3vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149779/original/image-20161213-25510-1s2c3vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149779/original/image-20161213-25510-1s2c3vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149779/original/image-20161213-25510-1s2c3vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Giraffes on the Serengeti Plain of Tanzania.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bill Laurance</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70254/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bill Laurance receives funding from the Australian Research Council and other scientific and philanthropic organisations. He is the director of the Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science at James Cook University, and founder and director of ALERT--the Alliance of Leading Environmental Researchers & Thinkers.</span></em></p>Are giraffes really facing extinction? The decline of these beloved animals - and many others – has been hidden in plain sight as Africa builds ever more roads, railways and cities.Bill Laurance, Distinguished Research Professor and Australian Laureate, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/630642016-07-27T18:38:50Z2016-07-27T18:38:50ZSouth Sudan’s humanitarian crisis: wildlife is also in the firing line<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132151/original/image-20160727-5653-o058bi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Sudan's elephant population plummeted from 80,000 in the late 1960s to less than 5,000 now.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The latest fighting in Juba, South Sudan, between government forces known as the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and the opposition has left hundreds <a href="https://theconversation.com/whos-behind-south-sudans-return-to-fighting-if-it-isnt-kiir-or-machar-62352">dead</a>. It also displaced tens of thousands from their homes, leaving them without any means of subsistence.</p>
<p>The latest flare-up between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition leader Riek Machar follows a civil war that lasted two years. The civil war cost the lives of an estimated 50,000 people and resulted in the displacement of <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-southsudan-unrest-un-idUSKCN0W503Q">2.3 million</a>.</p>
<p>The humanitarian crisis is, and should always be, of paramount importance. But South Sudan’s wildlife and conservation programmes are also in severe crisis as a result of the fighting. The conflict has made weapons widely available and created opportunities for poaching. The lack of food in rural areas and displacement further exacerbates this, with well-armed poachers threatening the lives of rangers and wildlife.</p>
<p>South Sudan has a rich and varied fauna, with elephants, lions, leopards, cheetah, wild dogs and a great variety of antelopes. This includes the rare tiang and huge herds of white-eared kob, numbering more than 800,000. But conservation suffered hugely during the wars of liberation from Sudan – from 1956 to 1972, and 1984 to 2005. Elephants were killed for their ivory by the Sudanese army, its irregular militias, which became known as the Janjaweed, and the liberation movement, notably the SPLA. </p>
<p>Ivory was poached and exported via military networks through Khartoum and by the SPLA through Ethiopia or Uganda. The underfunded and poorly armed park wardens and rangers could not compete with the firepower of the army, militias and rebels, or with the substantial poaching by displaced or destitute civilians. South Sudan’s elephant population plummeted from 80,000 in the late 1960s to about 10,000 in 2000 and less than 5,000 now. </p>
<p>South Sudan has seven national parks and 16 other reserves or protected areas that have a variety of wetland, Sudd swamp, savannah and forest habitats. National parks and reserves account for 15% of the national <a href="http://postconflict.unep.ch/publications/UNEP_Sudan.pdf">land area</a>. Despite a policy of wildlife and habitat protection proclaimed by the South Sudan government after the formation of the new state in 2011, following its secession from Sudan, the frequent communal conflicts and then the two years of civil war have prevented realistic conservation management. It has led to the deaths of several rangers at the hands of the SPLA or rebel groups. </p>
<h2>Poaching is on the increase</h2>
<p>Earlier this year, before the recent outbreak of fighting in Juba, it was <a href="http://qz.com/653414/the-halt-in-south-sudans-civil-war-has-seen-a-jump-in-elephant-poaching-for-ivory/">reported</a> that ivory poaching was continuing to increase in South Sudan. </p>
<p>Seventeen elephants were killed in a single incident in Warrap State in February. This followed the killing of 15 in Boma National Park the previous month.</p>
<p>More recently, a <a href="https://radiotamazuj.org/en/article/poaching-rise-lantoto-national-park-ten-elephants-dead">report</a> by the independent Radio Tamazuj said that there was evidence of increased poaching activity at <a href="http://www.protectedplanet.net/lantoto-national-park">Lantoto National Park</a>. The carcasses of 10 elephants were discovered and there was a substantial increase in the poaching of giraffes and zebras for meat and skins.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132152/original/image-20160727-13256-3x11f6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132152/original/image-20160727-13256-3x11f6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132152/original/image-20160727-13256-3x11f6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132152/original/image-20160727-13256-3x11f6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132152/original/image-20160727-13256-3x11f6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132152/original/image-20160727-13256-3x11f6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132152/original/image-20160727-13256-3x11f6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132152/original/image-20160727-13256-3x11f6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There has been a substantial increase in the poaching of zebras for meat and skins.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The chief game warden at the park, Colonel Natalino Lasuba, said that despite the arrest of several poachers, poaching there was on the rise. There is also evidence that many of the antelope herds and elephants are migrating out of the park and across the border into <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/136">Garamba National Park</a>, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. An animal exodus like this is usually the result of human encroachment or hunting, unless there has been a drought or loss of habitat. </p>
<p>But the animals are not migrating into safety. Garamba has serious, long-term poaching problems. SPLA soldiers, the Sudanese Janjaweed, Congolese rebels and professional poachers from Chad and Sudan all kill elephants for ivory and game for <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/elephant-poachers-kill-three-rangers-at-a-wildlife-park-in-the-democratic-republic-of-congo-a7002606.html">meat and hides</a>. Over the past year, eight rangers and three Congolese army personnel were killed by heavily armed poachers in Garamba.</p>
<p>The growth in poaching is the result of a combination of factors:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the wide availability of automatic weapons from the 1984 to 2005 <a href="http://africanarguments.org/2014/09/16/ivory-insurgency-and-crime-in-central-africa-the-sudans-connection-by-keith-somerville/">liberation war</a> against Sudan and the recent civil war;</p></li>
<li><p>the scarcity of resources to provide for law enforcement and park rangers;</p></li>
<li><p>the destruction of conservation infrastructure;</p></li>
<li><p>severe hunger and a lack of viable means to earn a living;</p></li>
<li><p>the need to feed armies and militias; and</p></li>
<li><p>the use of ivory to help fund conflict or enrich political and military elites.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>It’s not looking promising</h2>
<p>Had it not been for the conflict, Garamba Park, along with <a href="http://www.bahr-el-jebel-safaris.com/Boma_National_Park.html">Boma National Park</a> in eastern South Sudan, could have been the focus of conservation efforts. Conserving habitats and species would, in turn, have developed a wildlife tourism industry that could bring in hard currency. Unfortunately, the civil war between Kiir and Machar’s forces has waylaid those plans.</p>
<p>Illegal gold mining in some national parks or reserves has also brought about human-wildlife conflict and significant growth in the bushmeat trade.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/12/-sp-protecting-wildlife-south-sudans-civil-war-conservationist-reddit-ama">Paul Elkan</a>, Director of the <a href="https://www.wcs.org/our-work">World Conservation Society</a> programme in South Sudan, is also concerned about the aftermath of the conflict. </p>
<p>Ceasefires, when militias and rival forces are demobilised or inactive, could become the riskiest time for wildlife. With weapons but no fighting to carry out, poaching is a good option to make some quick money.</p>
<h2>Animals in major decline</h2>
<p>Before the start of the 1984 war for liberation from Sudan, South Sudan had a population of about <a href="http://africanarguments.org/2014/09/16/ivory-insurgency-and-crime-in-central-africa-the-sudans-connection-by-keith-somerville/">80,000 elephants</a>. In 2011, the Wildlife Conservation Society and South Sudanese government estimated the country’s elephant population to be about 5,000 strong. Today, half of that elephant population has disappeared, either through poaching or migration in search of safe havens.</p>
<p>The remaining elephants, and much of the other valuable wildlife species like the tiang, kob, giraffes and zebra, have their best chance of survival in the national parks and reserves. But, as with Lantoto, most of the protected areas have been plagued by conflict-related poaching. </p>
<p>The Boma National Park in Jonglei State, for example, is one of the most important savannah ecosystems in the region. But fighting in mid-2013 between government forces and the Murle rebel group led by David Yau Yau led to the destruction of park infrastructure, the killing of three wildlife rangers and the disruption of conservation and <a href="http://africanarguments.org/2014/09/16/ivory-insurgency-and-crime-in-central-africa-the-sudans-connection-by-keith-somerville/">wildlife protection programmes</a>. Park officials, including Park Warden Kolo Pino, were killed by South Sudanese armed forces seeking to drive out Yau Yau’s fighters. Elephants in the park that had been fitted with radio collars for a conservation programme were also killed by poachers.</p>
<p>Ending the war and addressing a worsening humanitarian crisis is clearly a priority for South Sudan. But solutions seem as far away as ever. </p>
<p>In terms of environmental protection, the aligning of conflict resolution, economic reconstruction and conservation policies are vital. It is crucial to protect wildlife and the wilderness, but to do it in a way that benefits people. Encouraging them to value wildlife and see it as a sustainable asset rather than a short-term answer to a pressing need will be critical to the country’s conservation future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63064/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keith Somerville does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>South Sudan is a country where conflict is rife. This has had a knock-on effect on the country’s rich and varied fauna, and put conservation programmes in severe crisis.Keith Somerville, Visiting Professor, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/540802016-02-04T04:27:40Z2016-02-04T04:27:40ZGiraffes: the long and the short of their survival as a species<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110151/original/image-20160203-5840-ms9do5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C9%2C774%2C516&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Giraffes are under threat due to habitat fragmentation and degradation.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Francois Deacon</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There are less than 80,000 giraffes <a href="http://www.livescience.com/27336-giraffes.html">left in the wild</a> and some subspecies of giraffes are <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/9194/0">close to extinction</a>. Giraffes are endemic to Africa and all those found elsewhere in the world originate from the continent.</p>
<p>Giraffes are an iconic animal of the continent’s savannah and are loved symbols of wildness and the beauty of nature. Imagine looking at Africa’s wildlife and not seeing any giraffes. This is a strong possibility, if giraffes and their habitat are not conserved properly.</p>
<p>Giraffes in Africa are particularly under threat due to habitat fragmentation and degradation. Their habitat is being increasingly broken up through development, urban sprawl and agricultural intensification. Bush meat hunting and poaching are also <a href="http://www.giraffeconservation.org/our_news.php?pgid=98">major threats</a>.</p>
<p>There are several species of giraffe <a href="http://www.giraffeconservation.org/booklets.php">across Africa</a>. East Africa’s giraffes have lost 70% of their natural habitat and wildlife within the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/29/earth-lost-50-wildlife-in-40-years-wwf">last three decades</a>. The West African giraffe is considered endangered and of high conservation importance according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/9194/0">Red List</a>. In 2010, the Rothschild’s giraffe – located mostly in Uganda and Kenya – was also put on the list.</p>
<p>Giraffe are used to migrating to find better foliage, preferred tree species and favourable diet. In constrained and fenced areas they are forced to feed on less preferred and low-quality material. This puts the animals under nutritional stress during critical periods and when deciduous trees don’t have sufficient material to feed on. </p>
<p>There is some good news. Giraffe are currently common both inside and outside a number of protected areas in South Africa, as well as across the sub-region. In southern Africa they have been reintroduced to areas where they had been eliminated.</p>
<p>The population appears to be increasing in South Africa and continues to be reintroduced to areas within its natural range. The Kruger National Park estimate was 5500 individuals in 2004 compared to between 7000 and 10,800 individuals currently. Similarly, the estimate for the country’s northern Limpopo Province in 2004 was 3000 compared to 9688 currently. </p>
<p>In South Africa, the private sector has also played a major role in improving giraffe numbers. But this carries risks which are not being addressed.</p>
<h2>The role of the private sector</h2>
<p>Private game ranches been largely responsible for restoring giraffe to many parts of their former natural range in South Africa. </p>
<p>Our unpublished data estimates there are between 11,299 and 13,850 giraffe across 12,000 private farms. Most are wild and free-roaming within the fenced areas. This means they aren’t captive-bred or kept in enclosures and given supplementary food. Most are kept on adequately sized properties. But giraffe are also kept and bred on game ranches as small as 20 hectares. This is a problem because complications can arise like diseases, parasites and poor health.</p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/102075875" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Last of the Longnecks.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition, many giraffe have been introduced to areas that historically may not have been part of their natural range, known as extra-limital introduction.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110152/original/image-20160203-5819-a0i0y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110152/original/image-20160203-5819-a0i0y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110152/original/image-20160203-5819-a0i0y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110152/original/image-20160203-5819-a0i0y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110152/original/image-20160203-5819-a0i0y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110152/original/image-20160203-5819-a0i0y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110152/original/image-20160203-5819-a0i0y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Giraffes are fitted with monitoring devices to better understand their use of habitat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Francois Deacon</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Giraffe are an attractive ecotourism and trophy-hunting animal. The private sector will therefore continue to stock, trade and increase their numbers.</p>
<p>The private ownership of giraffe and other wildlife species has helped to increase population numbers across the country. It is helping save the rhino from extinction and could be an option to save more wildlife species on the continent. The idea is controversial. But it can make a significant contribution to the success of species. </p>
<p>While a welcome development in terms of preserving the species, the restocking by private sector players carries dangers as the sector is unregulated and driven largely by economic gains. Given that the game ranching industry is driven by economic value little attention is given to the vegetation and the resources. </p>
<p>Measures need to be taken to ensure that the private sector involvement is done in a sustainable and safe way. </p>
<h2>A free-for-all that must end</h2>
<p>The following steps would go a long way. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Private landowners should be encouraged to form conservancies to reduce the effects of habitat fragmentation and reduce habitat degradation from overstocking.</p></li>
<li><p>Game ranches should also be required to undertake a habitat analysis before they can own a giraffe. Few game ranches do this. The habitat assessment should provide recommendations about the viability of the ranch and the introduction of the species. Many giraffe have died because they could not adapt to the environment. Proper regulations would limit these deaths and protect the habitat. </p></li>
<li><p>Robust assessments should be made of the impact on vegetation and other ecosystem processes when giraffe are introduced into areas considered extra-limital. And there should be research into appropriate habitats.</p></li>
<li><p>DNA and genetic material should be collected for assessing genetic diversity, describing potential inbreeding and informing translocation management frameworks.</p></li>
<li><p>Appropriate giraffe management and legislation for the wildlife sector should be supported and regulations put in place to prevent the importation and exportation of giraffe types, and </p></li>
<li><p>A large-scale stud book, which documents the demographic history of each individual giraffe, could be established to prevent inbreeding.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>These interventions could be tied together by the drafting and adoption of a biodiversity management plan for giraffes. Supporting the development of appropriate giraffe management and legislation for the wildlife sector will help to stabilise numbers.</p>
<p>Little-to-no scientific information is currently available about giraffe in the arid regions and on private game ranching areas. The lack of long-term studies remains the most limiting factor in understanding the home range, spatial ecology, dynamics and movements of giraffe.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54080/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francois Deacon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Giraffes are facing a silent extinction and need conservation strategies to help them.Francois Deacon, Lecturer in Animal and Wildlife and Grassland Sciences, University of the Free StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/457372015-08-05T16:29:49Z2015-08-05T16:29:49ZGiraffes aren’t dangerous – but they will soon be endangered<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90895/original/image-20150805-22491-6rnea5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">No trophy hunters that way ... or that way.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giraffe_Ithala_KZN_South_Africa_Luca_Galuzzi_2004.JPG">Luca Galuzzi</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>An American trophy hunter has kicked off another <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/04/giraffes-are-dangerous-another-trophy-hunter-under-fire-after-defending-hobby">social media furore</a> after defending a recent giraffe kill in South Africa by claiming they were “very dangerous animals”. In one sense she is right – giraffes are big and strong and you certainly wouldn’t want one kicking you. But attacks on humans are very rare.</p>
<p>A more relevant question is whether hunting is a key threat to giraffes.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/9194/0">assessment</a> does not list legal hunting as a threatening process at all. However illegal hunting for meat and trophies is listed as threatening as it reduces the effective size of their protected areas and, if allowed to proceed unchecked, can cause the collapse of wildlife populations. Giraffes are popular among bushmeat poachers because of their size, high meat yield and the ease with which they can be hunted.</p>
<p>The giraffe is currently listed as “<a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/9194/0">least concern</a>” on the IUCN Red List, but this doesn’t present the full picture. Back in 1999 wildlife expert Rod East estimated there were 140,000 in Africa – today the Giraffe Conservation Foundation estimates there are <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/giraffes-under-threat-populations-down-40-percent-in-just-15-years/">only 80,000 left</a>. Such a rapid decline suggests they may soon qualify as being <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/static/categories_criteria_3_1#critical">vulnerable to extinction</a>.</p>
<p>But why does a 40% drop in giraffe numbers not resonate worldwide? After all, everyone knows African elephants are threatened yet there are still <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/elephants/">500,000 left</a> in the world. So why is the giraffe being ignored?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90920/original/image-20150805-22465-mavmw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90920/original/image-20150805-22465-mavmw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90920/original/image-20150805-22465-mavmw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90920/original/image-20150805-22465-mavmw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90920/original/image-20150805-22465-mavmw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90920/original/image-20150805-22465-mavmw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90920/original/image-20150805-22465-mavmw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Time to put giraffes in the limelight.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42244964@N03/3924545812/">Frank Vassen</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Normally, it is the uncharismatic species that decline without much public sympathy, but that doesn’t apply here. Giraffes are one of the megastars of the African savannah. Tourists <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2167/joe133.0#.VcDbmmPN58E">love them</a>. Children who have never been to Africa know what a giraffe looks like. It is the world’s tallest animal despite having the same number of bones in its neck as we do. It is almost comical in appearance with its orange dappled pyjama onesie – although when you feel it, giraffe skin is thick and tough.</p>
<p>A drive through a well-managed protected area, such as Kruger National Park in South Africa, gives the impression that both elephants and giraffes are secure. You can sit at a waterhole and watch elephants cavorting in the water while a lone giraffe browses peacefully on the acacias nearby. In Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park I once saw 32 giraffes without even turning my head. It could be that this familiarity has blinded society to the decline of the species, in addition to a lack of <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/04/thailand-ivory-150421044938248.html">well-publicised trafficking busts</a> that occurs with elephant ivory or rhino horn.</p>
<p>But the rapid decline of giraffes isn’t the only story – because in southern Africa, populations are increasing. A major reason for this increase has been the development of wildlife ranches and the reintroduction and protection of giraffes on those lands. There are significant numbers on wildlife ranches in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and a recent study estimated that 23,000 giraffes occupy such lands in <a href="http://www.panthera.org/sites/default/files/Lindsey-et-al-2013-Benefits%20of%20wildlife-based-land-uses-in-Namibia.pdf">Namibia</a>.</p>
<p>Ironically, many of those ranches only developed because there was potential for deriving income from trophy hunting, including giraffes. Elsewhere, though, other sub-species are faring far worse. The reticulated giraffe from Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia has been reduced to <a href="http://www.giraffeconservation.org/prj_info.php?cid=111&prjid=5&pgid=37">just 5,000 individuals</a> through illegal poaching and war. The West African giraffe in Niger had only <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/nearly-extinct-giraffe-subspecies-enjoys-conservation-success/">50 animals in the mid-1990s</a>, but robust environmental protection has resulted in an increase to <a href="http://www.bornfree.org.uk/animals/giraffe/projects/giraffe-conservation/">around 400</a> today. </p>
<p>The taxonomy of giraffes is currently being studied, and it may be that the dozen or so giraffe sub-species are elevated to distinct species, which would totally reform their conservation status assessments.</p>
<p>It seems clear that to protect giraffes, we need to prevent both habitat loss and illegal hunting. These targets can be achieved through adequate management of protected area estates and through the creation of incentives for conservation on lands outside of protected areas. Trophy hunting contributes to both in some countries by <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-killing-lions-like-cecil-may-actually-be-good-for-conservation-45400">generating income from and for wildlife</a>. </p>
<p>The controversy over the killing of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-debate-over-cecil-the-lion-should-be-about-conservation-not-hunting-45445">Cecil the lion</a> highlights how much is needed to make sure legal hunting industries are adequately managed. However, until an alternative to the income from trophy hunting is found, the answer lies not in banning the practice or on clamping down on trophy imports, but in helping African countries manage the industry better.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45737/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matt Hayward is not a hunter and has never held a gun in his life.</span></em></p>The latest trophy hunting furore should at least raise the profile of Africa’s forgotten megafauna.Matt Hayward, Senior Lecturer in Conservation, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/230522014-02-11T05:50:02Z2014-02-11T05:50:02ZDeath of Marius the giraffe reveals cultural differences in animal conservation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41174/original/6q3jbnbh-1392053436.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Too much of a good thing?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Milligan/PA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The reaction to the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/copenhagen-zoo-kills-surplus-young-giraffe-marius-despite-online-petition-9117317.html">euthanasia</a> of Marius the giraffe at Copenhagen Zoo has highlighted cultural differences in attitudes to animals and death between the UK and Denmark.</p>
<p>I first visited the Copenhagen Zoo around 20 years ago and met the zoo’s scientific director Bengt Holst, who found himself recently at the centre of a <a href="http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/09/bid-to-save-danish-giraffe-marius-fails-as-zoo-says-it-must-control-population-4296383/">campaign to save Marius</a>, and is now the subject of another <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/bengt-holst-the-resignation-bengt-holst-the-zoo-s-scientific-director-copenhagen-zoo-in-denmark">calling for his resignation</a>. </p>
<p>The zoo had then, as it still does, a policy <a href="http://zoo.dk/BesogZoo/Nyhedsarkiv/2014/Februar/Why%20Copenhagen%20Zoo%20euthanized%20a%20giraffe.aspx">against using contraception</a> for its animals and consequently a policy of euthanasia of the surplus animals that would arise as a result.</p>
<p>In contrast to most zoos around the world which use contraception or sterilisation to control their animals’ reproduction, Copenhagen Zoo has chosen not to for two principal reasons. Some methods of contraception can have negative effects on an animal’s health and future reproductive ability, although slowly science is eliminating these. </p>
<p>But the Danes also strongly believe that being a parent is an enriching experience for their animals. The problem is that while it solves one animal welfare problem – the well-being of the breeding adults – it creates a subsequent ethical issue, that of what to do with the “surplus offspring”.</p>
<p>To humans, the concept of surplus offspring sounds wrong, but in the world of zoos, where space for endangered species and resources to keep them is limited, it is a different story. An enclosure to house giraffes is very expensive to build and maintain – and zoos do not have limitless pots of money. So if you allow animals to breed as often as they want, inevitably the result is animals perceived as surplus to requirements. </p>
<p>If Marius has many siblings or other relatives in the captive giraffe population, not just at Copenhagen but at other Danish zoos and even those across Europe, then his genes are not important in terms of maintaining genetic diversity. This is one of the goals that drives zoo conservation, as it is genetic diversity that allows species to adapt to changes in their environment – and zoos see themselves as providing a population safety net.</p>
<p>For wild animal populations this is of vital importance. So Copenhagen Zoo would argue that by allowing Marius to live – in any zoo, and especially one of those in Europe already well-stocked with individuals <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-26108366">bearing his family’s genes</a>, he is taking up limited and valuable space. Space that should be allotted to an individual that will add to or help maintain genetic diversity.</p>
<h2>Genetics is the bigger picture</h2>
<p>This is a very pragmatic stance. To many people in Britain this goes against our cultural identity as a nation of animal lovers. Danes love animals too, but express this in a different manner. They would, I suspect, agree with animal welfare experts in arguing that death itself is not an animal welfare issue; what is important is that the death is humane, and that the life that preceded it was good. In the UK we are perhaps too focused on longevity and not on quality of life. This is the key difference in attitude to the case of Marius the giraffe.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/conservation-biology-16089256">Conservation biology</a> is driven by society’s recognition that human actions have driven many species to extinction and that we have a responsibility to do something about it. This is an ethical question, and again, it is society that determines what is right or wrong – not me, and not Bengt Holst or Copenhagen Zoo. Most societies around the world have determined that it is wrong to drive other species to extinction, but many differ on the question of how to save them.</p>
<p>So in this case, I’m sure that Copenhagen Zoo chose to euthanise Marius because it sincerely believes that this is the best course of action for giraffe conservation. Similarly, keepers in Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-26108506">euthanised their six lions</a> last week for the same reason. Equally, others sincerely believe that this situation should have been avoided by the use of contraception, despite the welfare implications for the breeding adults.</p>
<p>It is perhaps time for us to remember that the nations of the world are jointly responsible for managing the world’s flora and fauna. Intentionally or not this case has sparked an important debate. It is only by attempting to understand each other’s cultures that we can hope to make any progress on global issues such as wildlife conservation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/23052/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert John Young does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The reaction to the euthanasia of Marius the giraffe at Copenhagen Zoo has highlighted cultural differences in attitudes to animals and death between the UK and Denmark. I first visited the Copenhagen…Robert John Young, Professor of Wildlife Conservation, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.