Welcome back to another great week of animal facts. Before we get into today’s Wild Fact, I wanted to bring your attention to two new things on the site. The first is the great book review that can be found directly below this post (or by clicking the link in the sidebar). The book is called Unlikely Friendships and is an interesting book highlighting the friendships between different animal species, find out more by clicking here. The second change to the Wild Facts site is a new tab on the top menu called “Wild Videos”, which will be continuously updated with new animal videos. I have uploaded a few already so when you finish today’s fact, I recommend checking out a few of the cute videos.
Now that the announcements are out of the way, let’s move onto today’s animal, which is the Rothschild Giraffe. Now I know you may be thinking that we have already looked at the Giraffe, but the Rothschild Giraffe is actually a sub-species of the regular Giraffe so they are technically different animals. In fact, some recent genetic studies suggest that this particular Giraffe is an entirely different species, since their genetic code is quite different compared to our standard Giraffe. I am sure more research needs to be conducted before confirming that there is actually more than one species of Giraffe but nonetheless, the Rothschild is special.
Why is the Rothschild Giraffe so special? Well, there are only a few hundred left in the wild. Why is it that all the cool animals are going extinct these days? I think it might be a conspiracy! I am not going to lie, I will be a little disheartened if we finally prove that this is an entirely new species and then the next day they go extinct. Okay, so I would be upset if they go extinct no matter what.
So how can we tell these Giraffe’s apart from other “sub-species”? Believe it or not, it is actually quite easy. You see they tend to be lighter in colour than most other sub-species. As well, their pattern isn’t quite as jagged as some of the other Giraffes out there. Finally, the most obvious trait is the fact that it looks like they are wearing cream-coloured, knee-high socks. That’s right, they have no spots beneath their knees, which is an obvious indicator that you are observing a very rare animal “sub” species.
Rothschild Giraffe Fast Fact – With only about 650 individuals left in the wild, the Rothschild Giraffe is quickly becoming extinct, with some populations already disappearing forever. There is no question that these majestic animals will cease to exist if we don’t find a way to preserve them and their habitat. Luckily there is currently a program called the Rothschild’s Giraffe Project which is studying the animals to find a way to keep them hanging around earth a little while longer.
Well, that does it for the first fact of the week on a potentially new species that is about to go extinct. Enjoy the rest of your day and I will see you tomorrow.
