This is a map of the range of all giraffe species. By my count that puts them in just 16 countries out of the 54 in Africa (of which 5 are island countries with no territory on the continental mainland). That's 30%, quite a long way shy of all, and as you can see many of those countries that do have giraffes only have a tiny portion of their territory within giraffes' habitats
Wow, I knew they weren't in "every African country", but I didn't realize just how restricted their range was
Good teachers don't mind saying "I don't know" or that they need to look it up and will get back to you.
Not only that but giraffes in different areas have different patterns and it's so cool
Masai giraffes look cool af
The Masai giraffes are stuntin’ on the heauxs!
Masai Giraffe:
Reticulated Giraffe:
This switched gears from a post about white ignorance to a giraffe appreciation post. Such is the nature of tumblr.
An update - as of July 2023, Angola has now reintroduced the Angolan giraffe into Iona National Park from the surviving population in Namibia, and reinforced the population with a second group in May 2024. Giraffes are ecosystem engineers in Angola because of their grazing habits, so once their population grows enough, they'll boost other species diversity too. It's still early days, but we're on the brink of that map needing to be expanded, which is lovely
