The first ever international Wild Giraffe Conference was held in early July at Gondwana’s Etosha Safari Lodge. The giraffe indaba, hosted by the Namibia Nature Foundation (NNF), was initiated by NNF’s new director, giraffe expert Dr Julian Fenessy. He did his PhD research on giraffe in Namibia, as did Dr Rachel Brand, a former park manager of Gondwana Cañon Park, who also attended the conference.
Researchers from all over the world participated in the conference: from the USA, Australia, Great Britain and Japan. The main focus was conservation management of giraffe all over Africa, but the topics of presentations and posters covered all fields from behaviour to ecology, raising public awareness and zoos.
During afternoon workshops participants had the opportunity to learn more about new technologies and instruments for monitoring giraffe, such as GPS collars and image recognition software, as well as the taxonomy of giraffe – it is still disputed whether giraffe represent one or two species, and six or nine subspecies.
However, what was clear to everyone at the conference is the fact that giraffe in western and eastern Africa in particular are in a very vulnerable position. Some populations are decreasing at an alarming rate, mostly due to poaching for bush meat. Indeed the outstanding presentation at the conference was about the highly endangered West African giraffe, down to only about 220 animals, found only in Niger.
On the last day a discussion was held on future research, management and conservation of the giraffe. It highlighted the need for a concerted effort to survey all remaining giraffe populations to help identify those that most urgently need protection.
Links:Giraffe Conservation FoundationNamibia Nature Foundation Giraffe (Wikipedia)Subscribe to monthly newsletter
