Rare giraffes comeback in Niger

Rare giraffes in Niger

Rare giraffes, which population dropped to 50 in 1996, are making a comeback in Niger.

According to the country's environment ministry, the rare giraffes, identified as West African giraffes, have now grown their number to 310.

"Efforts deployed by the government to protect the giraffes have borne fruit as their population has increased from about 50 in 1996 to 310 in 2011," the ministry said quoting the result of the latest census.

Distinguished by their light colored spots, the giraffes live in the vicinity of the tourist center at Kouré, some 80 km southeast of Niamey. A total of 146 males and 164 females are living in the area.

A non-governmental organization, the Association to Safeguard the Giraffes of Niger (ASGN), has set up community projects in the area to encourage the local population to preserve the giraffes.

West African Giraffes' Decline

Before the first World War, at the time of European colonial administrations, West African giraffes lived in pockets across the Sahel and savanna regions of West Africa. Population growth, involving more intensive farming and hunting, a series of dramatic droughts since the late 19th century, and environment destruction (both natural and human made) have all contributed to their dramatic decline.

As late as the 1960s, prior to the Sahel drought that lasted to the early 1980s, West African giraffe populations existed in Senegal, Niger, eastern Mali, northern Benin, northern Nigeria, southwest Chad and northern Cameroon. However, recent genetic research has shown that the populations from northern Cameroon and southern Chad actually are the Kordofan giraffes.

Therefore the giraffes that remain in Waza National Park (Cameroon) belong to the Kordofan Giraffe species, while the only remaining viable population of the West African giraffes is in Niger.

In Niger herds have been reported from the Agadez Region, and across the west and south of the country. Herds regularly traveled into the Gao Region of Mali as well and throughout the Niger River valley of Niger. Drought struck again in the 1980s and 1990s, and in 1991 there were less than 100 in the nation, with the largest herd in the western Dosso Region numbering less than 50, and scattered individuals along the Niger River valley moving from Benin to Mali, and clinging to the W National Park and nearby reserves.

In 1996, the West African giraffe was on the brink of extinction with only 50 individuals remaining. The West African giraffe is currently listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.