The southern giraffe (Giraffa giraffa), also known as two-horned giraffe, is a species of giraffe native to Southern Africa. However, the IUCN currently recognizes only one species of giraffe with nine subspecies.
Southern giraffes have rounded or blotched spots, some with star-like extensions on a light tan background, running down to the hooves. They range from South Africa, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique. Their approximate population is composed of 44,500 individuals.
Giraffes as one species are considered Vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN.The southern giraffes live in the savannahs and woodlands of northern South Africa, Angola, southern Botswana, southern Zimbabwe, Zambia and south-western Mozambique. After local extinctions in various places, the South African giraffes have been reintroduced in many parts of Southern Africa, including in Eswatini. They are common in both inside and outside of protected areas.
Southern giraffes usually live in savannahs and woodlands where food plants are available. Southern giraffes are herbivorous mammals. They feed on leaves, flowers, fruits and shoots of woody plants such as Acacia.
Southern giraffes are not threatened, as their population is increasing.
The Southern Giraffe is an ungulate mammal of the order Artiodactyla and the family Giraffidae. It was described initially and named with the binomial Camelopardalis giraffa by the German naturalist and zoologist Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1784. Shortly after that, in 1785, the Dutch physician and naturalist Pieter Boddaert gave the name Giraffa giraffa to this species. Although other researchers tried to assign different scientific names, finally this one became the official.
The southern giraffe has two subspecies:
– Angolan giraffe (G. g. Angolensis)
– South African giraffe (G. g. Giraffa).
In general, southern giraffes have dark patches, rounded and irregular in a reddish-brown color. Unlike other species that have a faded color in their legs, this giraffe keeps the spots all over the limbs, although they become smaller as they get closer to the feet.
The Angolan giraffe subspecies has large brown spots with an angular shape that reach down to the legs. At the top, they do not reach the forehead. It has a white patch in the ear that can serve as a distinctive feature among both subspecies.
They have a small but pronounced hump on the back by the end of the mane and a neck formed by seven vertebrae, approximately 8-10 inches each. They also have the peculiar and strange horns called ossicones, which are in part some of the sexual dimorphism characteristics of each gender as those of females are smaller and with more hair than those of males.
