Giraffes Face 'Silent Extinction' as Population Shrinks Nearly 40%

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Giraffes Face 'Silent Extinction' as Population Shrinks Nearly 40%
From Associated Press/ News/ USA Today/ usatoday.com

"The giraffe, the tallest land animal, is now at risk of extinction, biologists say.

Because the giraffe population has shrunk nearly 40 percent in just 30 years, scientists put it on the official watch list of threatened and endangered species worldwide, calling it “vulnerable.” That’s two steps up the danger ladder from its previous designation of being a species of least concern. In 1985, there were between 151,000 and 163,000 giraffes but in 2015 the number was down to 97,562, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)...."

(Photo: Khaled Kazziha, AP)


Richard

 

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Giraffes Silently Slip Onto the Endangered Species List
By Jason Daley/ SmartNews: Keeping You Current/ SmithsonianMag.com

"Years of habitat destruction and poaching have reduced giraffe numbers by 30 percent, placing them in the vulnerable category for the first time.


The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the body that administers the world’s official endangered species list, announced yesterday that it was moving the giraffe from a species of Least Concern to Vulnerable status in its Red List of Threatened Species report. That means the animal faces extinction in the wild in the medium-term future if nothing is done to minimize the threats to its life or habitat. The next steps are endangered, critically endangered, extinct in the wild and extinct...."

(Wikimedia Commons)


Richard

 

[Tia]

This is not good news

 

[MuranoJo]

Also so sorry to see this. Beautiful animals. And I cringe every time I hear another elephant stat.