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The southern giraffe (Giraffa giraffa), also known as two-horned giraffe, [1] is a species of giraffe native to Southern Africa. [2] However, the IUCN currently recognizes only one species of giraffe with nine subspecies. [3] [4]
Giraffes have become popular attractions in modern zoos, though keeping them healthy is difficult as they require vast areas and need to eat large amounts of browse. Captive giraffes in North America and Europe appear to have a higher mortality rate than in the wild, the most common causes being poor husbandry, nutrition, and management.
The Giraffidae are a family of ruminant artiodactyl mammals that share a recent common ancestor with deer and bovids.This family, once a diverse group spread throughout Eurasia and Africa, presently comprises only two extant genera, the giraffe (between one and eight, usually four, species of Giraffa, depending on taxonomic interpretation) and the okapi (the only known species of Okapia).
A 2009 genetic study on this subspecies suggests the northern Namib Desert and Etosha National Park populations each form a separate subspecies. However, genetic studies based on mitochondrial DNA do not support the division into two subspecies., [4] [5] but could identify giraffes in southern Zimbabwe as the Angolan giraffe, suggesting a further eastward distribution than expected.
The current IUCN taxonomic scheme lists one species of giraffe with the name G. camelopardalis and nine subspecies. [1] [7] A 2021 whole genome sequencing study suggests the northern giraffe as a separate species, and postulates the existence of three distinct subspecies, [8] and more recently, one extinct subspecies.
According to Brights Zoo, where the giraffe was born, she is the only known only solid-colored reticulated giraffe in the world. Reticulated giraffes are a subspecies of giraffes.
South African giraffes usually live in savannahs and woodlands where food plants are available. Giraffes are herbivorous. They feed on leaves, flowers, fruits and shoots of woody plants such as Acacia. South African giraffes live in a fission–fusion society system based on factors such as sex, age, season, and kinship. [7]
A unique and diverse albeit phylogenetically restricted mammal fauna [note 1] is known from the Caribbean region. The region—specifically, all islands in the Caribbean Sea (except for small islets close to the continental mainland) and the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Barbados, which are not in the Caribbean Sea but biogeographically belong to the same Caribbean bioregion—has ...