Why are rothschild giraffes endangered

Now, its plight has been officially recognised. The world's largest environment network, the International Union for Conservation of Nature , has added it to its red list of endangered species. Named after the banker and zoologist Walter Rothschild who first described it, the species joins the West African giraffe on the list, making it the second most threatened of the nine giraffe sub-species.

Fewer than Rothschild giraffes now live in the wild, in isolated populations. While giraffes overall are ranked of "least concern" by the IUCN, partly due to a lack of data, there are far fewer Rothschild giraffes remaining than there are endangered African elephants. What is causing the problem? The following section details giraffe populations by species and shows how very endangered so many types of giraffe are through various regions of Africa. Giraffe Population and Conservation Status by Species.

Masai Giraffe Previously the most populous giraffe with an estimated 71, three decades ago; less than half that number remain in the wild today.

Masai giraffe can be found across Kenya and Tanzania, with an isolated population Masai Thornicroft living in northeastern Zambia. Northern Giraffe Of the three subspecies of the Northern Giraffe known today, two are considered critically endangered and one is considered vulnerable.

But WA Giraffe are still the most imperiled type of giraffe, and are on the edge of extinction. Southern Giraffe A giraffe success story! Here, they raised the calves and started a programme of breeding giraffes in captivity. This is where the centre remains to date.

Alongside breeding of the Rothschild giraffe, the centre also doubles up as a conservation education centre where awareness is created among Kenyans especially the youth on how different species can be endangered. In a year, we receive more than 50, students who come in for free. Currently, the acres property hosts 11 giraffes: five young ones, five mature females and one mature bull. The centre runs a natural breeding programme, where the giraffes are allowed to breed naturally without the use of artificial insemination.

The Conservation Programmes manager says that once the giraffes give birth, they let the young ones stay for about two to three years before they are translocated back to the wild. Since its inception, the centre has hosted more than 60 giraffes, of which 25 have been successfully translocated and integrated back to the wild in different places across the country where there are members of the same type of giraffes.

Ngumbi laments that diseases pose a big challenge to the breeding programme and being that there are very few studies carried on the giraffe species, disease management is difficult. The Conservation programmes manager adds that the giraffe centre does not have its own resident veterinary officer.

He also admits that they do not have a capture unit and still have to depend on KWS to move the giraffes from the centre and to bring giraffes from different areas to the centre when they need to stabilize the gene pool. The overreliance on the tourism industry has been challenging for the conservancy especially during this COVID period, where there are travel bans.