Conservation genetics of an isolated giraffe population in Swaziland
Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) are a critical component of the savannah’s browsing guild (Birkett, 2002), although their distribution is discontinuous and the species has declined over most of the range (Fennessy, 2008). Often confined to protected areas, management of the giraffes has increasingly focused on maintaining small, closed populations including private lands or conservation areas (Brenneman […]
Genetic diversity in fragmented southern African giraffe populations
The giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) is distributed throughout sub-Sahara in savannah habitat. It is currently listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red Data List, as their numbers are declining. Little is known about the genetic characteristics of giraffe in South Africa. This molecular analysis of the introduced giraffe populations in the Free State Province thus provides […]
Social Behavior and communication in a herd of captive giraffe
Data on wild giraffe herds have often been interpreted as a random association of individuals, but the extent to which giraffe have a more complex social structure may have been overlooked. The focus of this dissertation is to investigate patterns of social relationships among individual giraffe. Social interaction and association (proximity and nearest neighbor) distributions […]
Giraffe translocation population viability analysis
Most populations of giraffes have declined in recent decades, leading to the recent IUCN decision to upgrade the species to Vulnerable status, and some subspecies to Endangered. Translocations have been used as a conservation tool to re-introduce giraffes to previously occupied areas or establish new populations, but guidelines for founding populations are lacking. To provide […]