Eclectic Echoes

A pair of Masai giraffes photographed in Kenya. Copyright Jim Heupel

My father is a professional nature photographer and one of the perks of that is having an excuse to travel around the world (hopefully writing it off as a business expense!). He recently returned from a trip (with Mom) to Kenya for a photo safari. Although there was one major mishap, they each reported that the trip was great even with Mom’s broken ankle! The species list from their trip had Johann’s jaw on the floor the entire time especially when he learned they witnessed the wildebeest migration.

Dad gave me permission to post this one for the Life Photo Meme so let’s find out a bit about the Masai Giraffe…

Masai Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi)

The Masai is the largest of nine subspecies of giraffe, with some males reaching 6.5m high. This also makes it the tallest mammal. They used to be common throughout Africa but now are found only in Kenya and Tanzania. Like the other giraffes they feed on fruits, flowers, seed pods and leaves, preferring the Acacia trees, eating up to 66kg (145 pounds) a day. Keeping that boy going is a basketball sized heart. Oh, and that 2m long neck has the same seven cervical vertebrae you and I have… theirs are just really elongated!

The Masai don’t have many predators as adults, but the chief among them is the lion. Leopards and hyenas will sometimes try and take as adult, as will crocadiles when the giraffe is drinking. Adult giraffes have lethal kicks with sharp hoofs that can crush a lions skull. Understandably then most predation on giraffes is on the young. Only about 50% of giraffe babies survive the first 6 months.

Without height cues how can you tell what giraffe it is?  The best evidence is DNA evidence. That is what David Brown et al. used in their recent paper Extensive population genetic structure in the giraffe (go Open Access!!). There have been a number of proposed subspecies for iraffes in the past. Since giraffes are highly mobile with no major geographic barrier to prevent their intermixing and interbreeding. all giraffes are considered one species, but there are clear geographic differences in populations traits such as coat patterns. Using mitochondrial DNA sequences and microsatellites the team determined there were six separate subspecies of giraffe. Overall there are at least 11 distinct populations, with each subspecies except the Angolan giraffe having at least two distinct subspecies. 

Based on their DNA analysis the researchers determined that the six subspecies are:  the Masai giraffe (G. c. tippelskirchi), the Reticulated giraffe (G. c. reticulata), the Rothschild’s giraffe (G. c. rothschildi), the West African giraffe (G. c. peralta), the Angolan giraffe (G. c. angolensis) and the South African giraffe (G. c. giraffa). The two closest related subspecies, also most likely the closest to the root species are the Masai and reticulated giraffes which the researchers determined split about 1 million years ago.

So how do you tell them apart if you’re at the zoo or you see them in a photo from Africa? 
The coat pattern is a good clue. Here is a comparison of the three main giraffes in Kenya: the Masai, the reticulated or Somali giraffe, and the Rothschild’s.

Masai Giraffe Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Subphylum

Vertebrata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Artiodactyla

Family

Girafidae

Genus

Giraffa

Species

G. camelopardalis

Subspecies

G. c. tippelskirchi

References

David M Brown, Rick A Brenneman, Klaus-Peter Koepfli, John P Pollinger, Borja Milá, Nicholas J Georgiadis, Edward E Louis, Gregory F Grether, David K Jacobs, Robert K Wayne (2007). Extensive population genetic structure in the giraffe BMC Biology, 5 (1) DOI: 10.1186/1741-7007-5-57