Giraffes are the tallest animals on Earth, and because of their peaceful nature and beautiful appearance, they actually endear themselves to everyone. Unfortunately, our future generations may not know them. Read how few of them are left in nature.
Everything in nature is in balance, we learned in elementary school, and every creature in the food chain has a purpose, otherwise the balance in nature breaks down. The fact that humans are real destroyers of the natural balance, which is not in our favor in the long run, is evidenced by the astounding data on the disappearance of animal species. Researchers have estimated that the current rate of extinction of animal species is between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural rate of extinction of animal species. It is estimated that every year 10,000 animal species disappear from the planet forever.
There are only 97,000 giraffes left
And one of the species that we will probably soon only know from books and movies are these wonderful creatures - giraffes. Due to hunting, loss of natural habitat and also due to wars in certain parts of Africa, the number of giraffes has decreased by as much as 30 percent in the last 30 years. The International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN reports that in 1985 there were 155,000 giraffes, and in 2015 there were only 97,000, which ranks these animal beauties as vulnerable, fortunately not yet endangered or critically endangered animal species. dr. Julian Fennessy, an IUCN giraffe species specialist, told the BBC: “Giraffe numbers have declined dramatically. In war zones such as northern Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia on the border with South Sudan, animals as large as giraffes can feed very large numbers of people.”
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Giraffes can be saved by proper nature reserves
Protected areas give hope for the preservation of giraffes, he believes Chris Ransom from the London Animal Society: “Giraffes can survive with the right moves towards protected areas where giraffes can safely live in their natural environment. In this way, we have already been successful with several endangered animal species, and giraffes could be among them."
Other endangered animal species
The most endangered animal species is this instant Amur leopard, which lives in southeastern Russia and northeastern China. In 2007, there were only around 20 of them, today they have managed to increase their number to 70. Among the most endangered are the black rhinoceros (the western black rhinoceros was officially extinct in 2011, and other species of rhinoceros must also be protected due to the skyrocketing prices of horns on the black market), the Bornean orangutan, several species of gorillas, the South Chinese tiger and the Sumatran elephant, orangutan, rhinoceros and tiger. You can find the full list here here.
Video: amazing animals that have become extinct in recent decades
Some more interesting facts about giraffes
- They only need 5 to 30 minutes of sleep a day.
- They grow up to 5.5 meters and are the tallest animals in the world.
- No one has ever seen a giraffe swim before.
- Giraffes only drink every few days. They can go longer without water than camels.
- No two giraffes have the same skin pattern.
- A giraffe's neck is too short to touch the ground with its mouth, so it has to spread its legs strangely to do so.
More information:
Worldwildlife.org
