Giraffes added to IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
THE WORLD’S TALLEST land mammal might be facing extinction. Two subspecies of giraffes (out of the nine in existence) have just been added to the “critically endangered” list for the first time, according to the latest report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The Kordofan and Nubian giraffe subspecies — found mainly across East, Central, and West Africa — are now classified as “critically endangered,” while the reticulated giraffe — native to the Horn of Africa — is listed as “endangered.”
Numbers of the long-necked mammals have gone down by 40% over the last three decades, mostly as a result of human activity in their habitat.
There are seven other subspecies of the world’s tallest animal, some of whose numbers are growing at a steady rate, but all nine have suffered in the face of poaching as well as agriculture, mining and construction across Africa.
The IUCN’s worrying report comes after a resolution adopted at the organisation’s World Conservation Congress in September 2018 called for action to reverse the decline of the giraffe.
IUCN RED LIST UPDATE https://giraffeconservation.org/2018/11/14/giraffe-subspecies-update/
