Giraffes appear to be one single creature but findings of a new study have revealed that there are actually four different species of the long-necked mammals.
Geneticist Axel Janke, from the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre and Goethe University in Germany, said that the findings change the status of the animals in terms of how endangered their species are.
About a third of the giraffe population was lost over the past three decades alone but the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) does not consider giraffes as endangered. They remain classified as least concern.
The discovery that the animal is composed of at least four different species, which was published in the journal Current Biology on Thursday, Sept. 8, can have crucial implications in giraffe conservation campaigns.
Giraffes taken as one number nearly 100,000 but when they are considered to be four separate species, the animals would appear to be in more dire need of help and support.
The southern giraffe only numbers about 52,000, the reticulated giraffe has a population of about 8,700, the Masai giraffe has about 32,500 individuals and the northern giraffe has a bleak number of only 4,750.
Scientists also said that the different species are about as distinct as polar bears and brown bears and because populations are composed of different species, giraffes could not reproduce with one another.
"They normally don't hybridize and have fertile offspring in nature," Janke said.
Conservationists would have to take into account that the different species do not commonly crossbreed when planning for strategies that aim to help improve the number of the animals.
"The remaining former giraffe subspecies cluster genetically into four highly distinct groups, and we suggest that these should be recognized as discrete species," Janke and colleagues wrote in their study.
"The conservation implications are obvious, as giraffe population numbers and habitats across Africa continue to dwindle due to human-induced threats."
The population of the giraffe has long been declining. The decline in their population is widely blamed on habitat loss, excessive hunting and poaching. The skin of the giraffe is used for clothing items and in some countries like Tanzania, the hunt is driven by beliefs that some parts of the animal can treat HIV infection.
"With now four distinct species, the conservation status of each of these can be better defined and in turn added to the IUCN Red List," said Julian Fennessy, from the Giraffe Conservation Foundation in Namibia.
