Giraffa giraffa
| Southern giraffe | |
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| A South African giraffe (G. giraffa giraffa) at the Kruger National Park, South Africa. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Giraffidae |
| Genus: | Giraffa |
| Species: | G. giraffa |
| Binomial name | |
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Giraffa giraffa (Schreber, 1784) |
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| Subspecies | |
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G. g. giraffa (Schreber, 1784) |
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| Range map in red and tawny-orange | |
| Synonyms | |
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Giraffa australis (Rhoads, 1896) |
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G. g. giraffa (Schreber, 1784)
G. g. angolensis (Lydekker, 1903)
Giraffa australis (Rhoads, 1896)
The southern giraffe (Giraffa giraffa), also known as two-horned giraffe, is a proposed species of giraffe native to Southern Africa. The southern giraffe is proposed as one of the four discovered members of the genus Giraffa. The species was described and given its binomial name by German naturalist Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1784. Two subspecies are recognized. However, the IUCN currently recognizes only one species of giraffe with nine subspecies.
Southern giraffes have rounded or blotched spots, some with star-like extensions on a light tan background, running down to the hooves. They range from South Africa, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique. Their approximate population is composed of 44,500 individuals.
All giraffes are considered Vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN.
Living giraffes were originally classified as one species by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, under the binomial name Cervus camelopardalis. Morten Thrane Brünnich classified the genus Giraffa in 1772. Once considered a subspecies of the conglomerate Giraffa camelopardalis species, recent studies proposed the southern giraffe as a separate species of a reorganised Giraffa genus, under the binomial name Giraffa giraffa. However, the taxonomic scheme has been criticized, and currently the IUCN recognizes only one species of giraffe with nine subspecies.
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Wikipedia