East African Giraffe

About the East African Giraffe

The Masai giraffe (Giraffa tippelskirchi), also spelled Maasai giraffe, and sometimes called the Kilimanjaro giraffe, is a species of giraffe. It is native to East Africa. The Masai giraffe can be found in central and southern Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and the Luangwa Valley region of Zambia. It has distinctive jagged, irregular leaf-like blotches that extend from the hooves to its head. The Masai giraffe is currently the national animal of Tanzania.

Genetic research on giraffes in 2016 determined that there are likely four separate species of giraffe rather than just one. The IUCN's Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group has now accepted that there are four species of giraffes: the Masai giraffe, the reticulated giraffe, the northern giraffe, and the southern giraffe.[3] The Masai giraffe has therefore been elevated to a full species, the research also established that the Thornicroft's giraffe also known as the Luangwa giraffe, found in the Luangwa Valley region of Zambia, is a subspecies of the Masai giraffe (Giraffa tippelskirchi thornicrofti).

The Masai giraffe was described and given the binomial name Giraffa tippelskirchi by German zoologist Paul Matschie in 1898,... Wikipedia →