WHILE MORE THAN 160,000 giraffes roamed Africa in 1985, an estimate in 2015 indicates fewer than 100,000 remain – a 40 percent decline in 30 years.
BILLY DODSON
In the latest update to its Red List of Threatened Species, released in December, IUCN moved the giraffe from its previous designation of “least concern” to the “vulnerable” category. Interestingly, the giraffe’s Red List status could change again at some point in the future. New DNA research being reviewed by IUCN suggests the existence of four distinct giraffe species, rather than the current listing of one species with nine subspecies. If approved, two of these new species would be so few in number that they would be considered some of the world’s most endangered large mammals. Learn what new species classification could mean giraffes: www.awf.org/4giraffespeciesfor