New research has revealed an often overlooked limitation on giraffe mobility that challenges long-held perceptions of their adaptability to certain landscapes.
When we imagine giraffes roaming the African savannas, we remember how unlimited their freedom is. But is it really so?
A new study recently revealed that its reality is much more limited than we thought, dictated by the availability of water and food but also by the contours of the earth itself.
The research, presented at the British Ecological Society Annual Meeting in Liverpool, identified the terrain slope as a definitive factor which influences the movement of giraffes.
The study involved GPS tracking the movements of 33 giraffes (10 males and 23 females) across five South African reserves.
According to , the data revealed that giraffes have a strong preference for flat landonly tolerating slopes of up to 12 degrees when the reward — lush or nutrient-rich vegetation — outweighs the effort.
Already slopes steeper than 20 degrees have an absolute limit, which makes these areas inaccessible to these animals.
“Our study shows that giraffes much prefer flat areas,” explained Jessica Granweiler, a PhD candidate at the University of Manchester, in the United Kingdom. “These animals tolerate some incline to access food, but cannot reach areas above a 20° gradient. AND shocking when we look at distribution maps.”
In Namibia and Tanzania, there are approximately 8,000 km2 which may be unusable for giraffes, almost half the size of Wales. In Kenya and South Africa, there are approximately 4,000 km2 which may be unusable.
But “what is even more worrying is that, of all the countries we mapped, one in three had more unusable areas in protected areas than outside them”, highlighted the researcher.
This problem becomes even greater when reserves are fenced off, which happens a lot in South Africa. “If a reserve is 200 acres but has a big mountain in the middle, from a giraffe’s perspective, that reserve is no more than 200 acres,” Jessica said. “We need to start including topography in giraffe conservation planning and habitat assessments.”
