The origins of the scientific study and classification of giraffes

Giraffes have been known for many thousands of years from rock art and Egyptian artefacts, displayed by Roman emperors at games and triumphs between 46BC and AD274, and briefly exhibited in the zoos of the Italian City States in the 15th Century, yet they remained in the realm of mythology until, in 1764, Ryk Tulbagh, […]

The present distribution and status of the giraffe in west Africa

Several papers have been published in Mammalia in the last few years on the distribution of the West African giraffe, Giraffa camelopardalis paralta Thomas 1898. However, its exact distribution and numbers are still uncertain; this paper records some recent information on the subject and suggests reasons for the limited numbers at the present time. Another […]

The Subspeciation of the Giraffe

A brief overview on the use of coat color, spot pattern, and horn appearance as a poor basis for categorizing species/subspecies of giraffe.