Overview

• The newly accepted species are the North, Reticulated, Masai and Southern giraffes, replacing the long-held single-species view.
• IUCN will now assign individual Red List threat categories to each species, guiding species-specific conservation strategies.
• Genomic research led by Senckenberg and partners examined roughly 200,000 DNA segments from 50 giraffes, revealing four lineages that began diverging about 230,000–370,000 years ago.
• Analyses indicate little or no interbreeding in the wild among the four species, with skull morphology studies supporting the genetic split.
• Population estimates from the Giraffe Conservation Foundation highlight sharp differences: about 7,000 North, 21,000 Reticulated, 44,000 Masai and 69,000 Southern giraffes.