November 22, 2024

Giraffes Are Notoriously Hard to Track, But New Technology Is Helping Scientists Protect the Beloved Species

By

Alex Fox

Pictures by Marcus Westberg

This dire situation recently led GCF to partner with African Parks, a preservation group that works with South Sudans government to handle neighboring Badingilo and Boma National Parks– both Nubian giraffe fortress– to track, study and safeguard the animal.

They have one of the most instantly recognizable silhouettes in the world. “They walk so with dignity that it appears like they are drifting throughout the savanna,” says Michael Brown, an ecologist with the Namibia-based Giraffe Conservation Foundation, or GCF.

But our familiarity with these stilt-legged ruminants can in some cases give a misconception of their general numbers, masking a “silent extinction”– so called since it gets little attention compared with the predicament of elephants or rhinoceroses. In recent years, nevertheless, rapidly broadening agriculture and human communities across Africa have actually destroyed or fragmented huge swaths of the intact savanna giraffes need to find the trees and bushes they eat, driving a 40 percent decrease of the four giraffe types given that 1985. Nubian giraffes, a critically threatened subspecies found in South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya, have actually lost an estimated 95 percent of their population. Today theyre down to perhaps 3,000 animals.

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In April, Ferguson and others from African Parks traversed Badingilo and Boma by helicopter and attached trackers to 11 Nubian giraffes. The information they are collecting will help determine essential habitats and favored paths within the parks combined 7.4 million acres of wetlands and savanna, potentially spurring their expansion and revealing where extra patrols to restrict bushmeat poaching or neighborhood education to encourage local buy-in for conservation can conserve giraffe lives. “We cant conserve what we do not comprehend,” states Julian Fennessy, co-founder and conservation director of GCF.

However tracking giraffes provides a notoriously difficult design difficulty. GPS collars generally walk around the neck, but giraffe necks, which are six feet long, skinny up top and thick down below, arent made for collars; the gadgets move down when the animal reduces its head, triggering discomfort or risking losing the collar completely. Researchers have attempted anklets, chest harnesses and even tags installed to the bony, horn-like nubs on top of their heads, however nobody might keep a tracker connected and working for long, says Sara Ferguson, a GCF wildlife vet.

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Giraffes

Africa,

Conservation,

In recent years, however, quickly broadening farming and human neighborhoods across Africa have ruined or fragmented huge swaths of the undamaged savanna giraffes need to find the trees and bushes they eat, driving a 40 percent decline of the four giraffe types given that 1985. GPS collars normally go around the neck, but giraffe necks, which are six feet long, skinny up top and thick down below, arent made for collars; the devices move down when the animal decreases its head, triggering pain or risking losing the collar entirely. In April, Ferguson and others from African Parks traversed Badingilo and Boma by helicopter and connected trackers to 11 Nubian giraffes. The data they are collecting will help recognize key environments and preferred paths within the parks combined 7.4 million acres of wetlands and savanna, potentially stimulating their expansion and showing where extra patrols to limit bushmeat poaching or neighborhood education to encourage regional buy-in for preservation can save giraffe lives.