How One Giraffe Became More. Specifically, Four.

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Astronomers are lucky. When they uncover something weird, like a planet orbiting our nearest neighboring star, they can say, “Yes, but that pinprick was 40 trillion kilometers away.” When biologists make similar discoveries that turn convention on its head, the general reaction is “How did you not notice this?” When that discovery suddenly revises our understanding of a 20-foot-tall animal that’s strewn throughout a sizable chunk of a continent and that can weigh up to 2,600 pounds, “No, seriously ... how did nobody notice this?!” is a pretty valid question. That’s the question researchers from the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center and the Giraffe Conservation Foundation found themselves asking after they conducted some genetic tests and realized that what we’ve long thought of as “the giraffe,” is actually four distinct species. They’ve since renamed them, very creatively spinning off on the giraffe theme: the Masai giraffe, the reticulated giraffe, the southern giraffe, and the northern giraffe. For a long time, researchers and observers alike have noticed the visible variation between individual giraffes in features like color and coat pattern, but this had long been ascribed to simple diversity throughout the various subspecies. The researchers were originally checking in on the giraffe population’s genetic diversity in hopes of clearing up confusion over exactly how many subspecies of giraffe there are. (Giraffes have long been classified as one species, with anywhere from nine to 11 subspecies.) They were taken aback, however, when they found that the genetic material betrayed a much deeper split between various giraffes.

How One Giraffe Became More. Specifically, Four.

How One Giraffe Became More. Specifically, Four.