External features of giraffe

In the wild it is difficult to decide with certainty which giraffe calf belongs to which mother and impossible to determine the calf’s father. It is only in zoos that an offspring’s parents are known so that problems of heredity can be studied. Giraffe make a particularly interesting field of study in that individual variations […]

Revisiting giraffe photo-identification using deep learning and network analysis

An increasing number of research programs rely on photographic capture-recapture (vs. direct marking) of individuals to study distribution and demography within animal populations. Photo-identification of individuals living in the wild is sometimes feasible using idiosyncratic coat or skin patterns, like for giraffes. When performed manually, the task is tedious and becomes almost impossible as populations […]

Seeing spots: quantifying mother-offspring similarity and assessing fitness consequences of coat pattern traits in a wild population of giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis)

Polymorphic phenotypes of mammalian coat coloration have been important to the study of genetics and evolution, but less is known about the inheritance and fitness consequences of individual variation in complex coat pattern traits such as spots and stripes. Giraffe coat markings are highly complex and variable and it has been hypothesized that variation in […]

Extensive population genetic structure in the giraffe

Background: A central question in the evolutionary diversification of large, widespread, mobile mammals is how substantial differentiation can arise, particularly in the absence of topographic or habitat barriers to dispersal. All extant giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) are currently considered to represent a single species classified into multiple subspecies. However, geographic variation in traits such as pelage […]