Giraffes Silently Slip Onto the Endangered Species List
Years of habitat destruction and poaching have reduced giraffe numbers by 30 percent, placing them in the vulnerable category for the first time
By Jason Daley
smithsonian.com
December 9, 2016
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.
Poaching of elephants and rhinoceros and the illegal trade in pangolins has overshadowed the problems with giraffes in the last decade. But Damian Carrington at The Guardian reports that giraffe numbers have dropped precipitously in the last 31 years, from 157,000 individuals in 1985 to 97,500 at last count.
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https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/giraffes-silently-slip-endangered-species-list-180961372/#bhTx7WOFV1txf3If.99
