SUPPORT THE WORLD GIRAFFE FUND
The population of the world’s tallest animal species, the giraffe, is shrinking fast.
In just 15 years, numbers have plummeted by more than 40 percent. There were 140,000 of these iconic animals spread across Africa at the turn of the 20th century. Now there are less than 80,000 left. It’s a silent extinction.
Only a multimillion-dollar investment will help sustain, protect, and secure a future for the giraffe. It’s time to devote more money to this urgent conservation issue. Much, much more. And soon.
We invite you to join in supporting our Save the Giraffe campaign. Your tax-deductible investment will help fund crucial giraffe conservation projects. Below are some of our global conservation funding opportunities. Please join us by making your commitment today.
There’s work to be done, and the clock is ticking. We hope you will step up and invest in our campaign to save the giraffe.
GIRAFFE CONSERVATION FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
In just 15 years, numbers have plummeted by more than 40 percent. There were 140,000 of these iconic animals spread across Africa at the turn of the 20th century. Now there are less than 80,000 left. It’s a silent extinction.
Only a multimillion-dollar investment will help sustain, protect, and secure a future for the giraffe. It’s time to devote more money to this urgent conservation issue. Much, much more. And soon.
We invite you to join in supporting our Save the Giraffe campaign. Your tax-deductible investment will help fund crucial giraffe conservation projects. Below are some of our global conservation funding opportunities. Please join us by making your commitment today.
There’s work to be done, and the clock is ticking. We hope you will step up and invest in our campaign to save the giraffe.
GIRAFFE CONSERVATION FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
- Development of a dedicated Giraffe Conservation Centre in Namibia to host environmental education activities and enable the public to learn and engage closely with giraffe and their environment.
- Undertake the first-ever Africa-wide Giraffe Census to accurately estimate giraffe numbers and range across their natural range. This would help better understand the conservation status and provide the first-ever accurate baseline for their long-term conservation and management
- Establish a dedicated East African Giraffe Team and associated office base and resources to work collaboratively on giraffe conservation and management with governments and partners across a range of giraffe subspecies (Masai, reticulated and Rothschild’s) in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
- Establish a dedicated Southern Africa Giraffe Team and associated office base and resources to work collaboratively on giraffe conservation and management with governments and partners across a range of giraffe subspecies (Angolan, South African and Thornicroft’s) in Botswana,Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
- Establish a dedicated Central and West African Giraffe Team and associated office base and resources to work collaboratively on giraffe conservation and management with governments and partners across a range of giraffe subspecies (Cordovan and West African) in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo and Niger.
- Roll out Environmental Education Program support across Africa in collaboration with local partners. As a priority, focus on Kenya, Namibia and Uganda, while increasing partnerships in other giraffe range States.
- Undertake a comprehensive Giraffe Genomic Study to assist in accurately defining the current giraffe taxonomic and its conservation status for all subspecies in the wild.
- Increase the size and range of Conservation Grant Support to direct on-ground giraffe conservation and management activities across Africa. Areas of support would include anti poaching, de-snaring, conservation research, surveys, veterinary management, etc.
- Develop a Giraffe Scholarship Award to provide financial support to field studies with a focus on giraffe conservation for undergraduate, MSc and PhD students in Africa.
- For the long-term sustainability of giraffe conservation activities, it is critical that an Endowment Fund be established for continued future support.
FOUNDATION GRANT SUPPORTS GIRAFFE RESEARCH PROJECT
This year the Foundation was pleased to award a grant to the Wild Nature Institute in support of its GIRAFFE: GIRAffes Facing Fragmentation Effects project.
Title of Project: GIRAFFE: GIRAffes Facing Fragmentation Effects
Geographic Location: Tarangire Ecosystem, Northern Tanzania, East Africa
Project Description: Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) are an iconic indicator of the health of African savanna ecosystems, but are Vulnerable to Extinction according to the IUCN Red List, and declining as a result of lost habitat to farms and housing, and illegal poaching for bush meat. The study of demography—births, deaths, and movements—is critical to understanding where and why giraffes are doing well (e.g. high reproduction and survival) or not, and ensuring important habitats are protected and connected. Most research on giraffe demography has been conducted within protected parks or game reserves, but fragmented ecosystems dominated by human uses represent much of the remaining habitat for this mega-herbivore. In 2011, the Wild Nature Institute initiated the first-ever large-scale study of giraffe demography in the fragmented Tarangire Ecosystem of northern Tanzania with the goals of:
(1) Understanding population dynamics in a fragmented landscape in order to successfully conserve the species and its savanna habitat.
(2) Raising awareness of population declines and threats to the national animal of Tanzania.
The Tarangire Ecosystem is prime habitat for giraffes. Since the 1940s, human population and agricultural development here have increased dramatically, causing substantial habitat loss, increasing fragmentation, and reducing connectivity for wildlife. Illegal hunting of giraffes for meat is common in this region. Our research and education work is critical to giraffe conservation in fragmented habitats.
Conservation Research Results:
This year the Foundation was pleased to award a grant to the Wild Nature Institute in support of its GIRAFFE: GIRAffes Facing Fragmentation Effects project.
Title of Project: GIRAFFE: GIRAffes Facing Fragmentation Effects
Geographic Location: Tarangire Ecosystem, Northern Tanzania, East Africa
Project Description: Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) are an iconic indicator of the health of African savanna ecosystems, but are Vulnerable to Extinction according to the IUCN Red List, and declining as a result of lost habitat to farms and housing, and illegal poaching for bush meat. The study of demography—births, deaths, and movements—is critical to understanding where and why giraffes are doing well (e.g. high reproduction and survival) or not, and ensuring important habitats are protected and connected. Most research on giraffe demography has been conducted within protected parks or game reserves, but fragmented ecosystems dominated by human uses represent much of the remaining habitat for this mega-herbivore. In 2011, the Wild Nature Institute initiated the first-ever large-scale study of giraffe demography in the fragmented Tarangire Ecosystem of northern Tanzania with the goals of:
(1) Understanding population dynamics in a fragmented landscape in order to successfully conserve the species and its savanna habitat.
(2) Raising awareness of population declines and threats to the national animal of Tanzania.
The Tarangire Ecosystem is prime habitat for giraffes. Since the 1940s, human population and agricultural development here have increased dramatically, causing substantial habitat loss, increasing fragmentation, and reducing connectivity for wildlife. Illegal hunting of giraffes for meat is common in this region. Our research and education work is critical to giraffe conservation in fragmented habitats.
Conservation Research Results:
- The discovery of significant variation in survival and reproduction among regional sites as well as important linkage movements among the sub-populations. One site was nearly isolated as a result of habitat fragmentation.
- Tarangire National Park and Manyara Ranch were identified as the ‘engines’ of growth for the metapopulation, acting as ‘sources’ and rescuing the 3 ‘sink’ sub-populations from local extinction over the long term, but at the cost of depleting the source sub-populations.
- Poaching outside the national parks is reducing adult female survival, contributing to the decline of the metapopulation.
- The seasonal local presence of large migratory herds of wildebeests and zebras at a site increase survival of giraffe calves because they lower predation pressure on the calves, demonstrating the inter-connectedness in the ecosystem. This underscores the reality that if we want to maintain giraffe populations we also need to maintain the migratory herds.
- Continent-wide variation in demographic parameters among protected areas illustrate even national parks are not alike in their ability to conserve giraffes.
- Giraffe skin disease lesions do not cause a significant increase in mortality, and the spatial pattern of prevalence of lesions is tied to lower soil fertility.
- Aerial surveys undercount giraffe populations, but we estimated correction factors based on our ground-based studies.
