In news– About 150 years ago, British colonialists brought batches of what they thought were a single species of the northern giraffe to India, from their other colonial possessions in Africa.
About Northern Giraffe-
- The northern giraffe, also known as three-horned giraffe, is the type species of giraffe, G. camelopardalis, and is native to North Africa, although alternative taxonomic hypotheses have proposed the northern giraffe as a separate species.
- Once abundant throughout Africa since the 19th century, Northern giraffes ranged from Senegal, Mali and Nigeria from West Africa to up north in Egypt.
- The similar West African giraffes lived in Algeria and Morocco in ancient periods until their extinctions due to the Saharan dry climate.
- The current IUCN taxonomic scheme lists one species of giraffe with the name G. camelopardalis and nine subspecies.
- A 2021 whole genome sequencing study suggests the northern giraffe as a separate species, and postulates the existence of three distinct subspecies. They are:
- Kordofan giraffe(G. c. antiquorum).
- Nubian giraffe(G. c. camelopardalis).
- West African giraffe(G. c. peralta).
- These now comprise a captive population of 29 individuals of northern giraffes across the country.
- Both the Nubian and Rothschild giraffes are listed as ‘critically endangered’ and ‘endangered’ by the IUCN respectively.
- Often mistaken with the Southern Giraffes, Northern giraffe’s are differentiated by their distinctive two horn-like protuberances known as ossicones on their foreheads, which are longer and larger than those of southern giraffes’.
- Bull Northern giraffes have a third cylindrical ossicone in the center of the head just above the eyes, which is from 3 to 5 inches long.
- Northern giraffes live in savannahs, shrublands, and woodlands. After numerous local extinctions, Northern giraffes are the least numerous giraffe species, and the most endangered.
- The earliest ranges of the Northern giraffes were in Chad during the late Pliocene.
Source: The Hindu
