- Title: Giraffes suffer silent extinction in Africa, report
- Date: 8th December 2016
- Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (FILE - APRIL 27, 2011) (REUTERS) GIRAFFES GRAZING/BUILDING IN BACKGROUND GIRAFFES/NAIROBI CITY IN BACKGROUND GIRAFFE DRINKING WATER SAMBURU, KENYA (FILE-SEPTEMBER 16, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF GIRAFFES GRAZING VARIOUS OF GIRAFFES WALKING LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK, KENYA (FILE-AUGUST 20, 2015) (REUTERS) GIRAFFE WALKING ACROSS ROAD IN FRONT OF VEHICLE
- Embargoed: 23rd December 2016 12:19
- Keywords: wildlife extinction giraffes Africa Kenya animals
- Location: NAIROBI, SAMBURU AND LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK
- City: NAIROBI, SAMBURU AND LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK
- Country: Kenya
- Reuters ID: LVA0015C0XTMV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Giraffe numbers have declined by as much as 40 percent since the 1980s in a "silent extinction" driven by human causes, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reported on Thursday (December 8).
The Red List of endangered species complied by the IUCN moved the giraffe to the category "vulnerable" to extinction for the first time, against a previous rating of "least concern".
Populations of the world's tallest land creature fell to about 98,000 in 2015 from an estimated 152,000-163,000 in 1985, according to the List compiled by the IUCN.
The IUCN said the plunge in numbers in large parts of sub-Saharan Africa had gone largely unnoticed.
Giraffes are at risk due to growing human population leading to more illegal hunting, damaging civil unrest, loss of habitat and changes through expanding agriculture and mining the IUCN said.
With land scarcity near most of national parks in Kenya, developers are slowly invading areas set aside for wild animals resulting to human wildlife conflict.
Scientists in Kenya are fitting radio collars on most wildlife's to help secure and monitor the "corridors" they use between national parks, part of a conservation drive that has seen some of the nation's wildlife population double within the last 35 years.
U.N. studies say that man-made threats, led by the loss of natural habitats, may herald the worst extinction crisis since the dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million years ago. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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