Photo by @amivitale. Here's a little inspiration to get a jump into your Monday! This West African giraffe is leaping outside of Doulouwal Peulh, Niger - a village about 50 miles outside of the capital of Niamey. The giraffe population in the area made their way here in the late 1980's from neighboring Mali, driven by drought and war. When Amadou Hama, a Fulani herder in his 70's first encountered the animals, he said, "We thought it was the devil, because of that neck and those horns. People had told me about dangerous animals like lions, but nobody had ever told me about the giraffe. We were frightened. Even the cows were frightened,” He overcame their fears and today, like everyone here, is living side by side with the endangered West African giraffe in the country's government-defined Giraffe Zone. Today, there are only about 600 West African giraffes left on the planet (up from a low of 49 in the wild, itself a conservation success). In December 2018, the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (@giraffe_conservation), with the Niger government and other partners, endeavored to move eight of these highly threatened giraffe from the zone to Niger's Gadabedji Biosphere Reserve, where they have been absent for more than 50 years. Follow @giraffe_conservation to learn more and get involved in saving this iconic species. @nikonusa #SaharaConservationFund #protectgiraffes #giraffe #savegiraffes #niger https://www.instagram.com/p/CgKnlXnPDtb/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=