Are Giraffes Endangered? The Silent Extinction Explained

What is the giraffe’s conservation status?

Before 2016, the IUCN listed the giraffe as Least Concern, the lowest level of risk. In 2016 it moved the species to Vulnerable after estimating that giraffe numbers had fallen by 36–40% over 30 years, from roughly 152,000–163,000 in 1985 to about 97,500 in 2015. Vulnerable means a species faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.

That assessment treated all giraffes as one species, which hid big differences between regions. When the traditional subspecies were assessed separately in 2018 and 2019, the results were very uneven:

In 2025 the IUCN’s Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group recognized four separate giraffe species, so new assessments for each species are expected to follow. Read more in How many giraffe species are there?

How many giraffes are left?

The most recent continent-wide figures, published by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation in 2025, estimate about 140,000 giraffes in the wild. That is higher than the 2016 figure, partly because surveys have improved and more areas have been counted, and partly because some populations have truly grown.

Put another way, there are fewer giraffes in Africa than African elephants, which number roughly 415,000. Most giraffes live in the south and east of the continent, while the northern giraffe is split into small, isolated groups. See also Are elephants endangered?

Why did giraffe numbers fall?

Habitat loss. Africa’s human population is growing fast, and savanna and woodland are being cleared for farms, livestock, settlements, roads and charcoal production. Giraffes need large areas of trees to browse, and fences and farms cut their habitat into isolated pieces.

Poaching. Giraffes are killed illegally for their meat, and also for their skin, bones and tail hair, which are used locally for decoration, traditional items and good-luck charms. A single giraffe provides a lot of meat, which makes it a target where poverty and weak law enforcement go together.

War and civil unrest. Some of the steepest declines happened in countries affected by conflict, such as South Sudan, Somalia, the Central African Republic and parts of DR Congo, where armed groups and displaced people hunted wildlife and park protection broke down.

Drought and climate. Severe droughts reduce food and water and increase conflicts between herders and wildlife. In northern Kenya, droughts in 2017 and again in 2021–2022 killed giraffes directly and increased pressure on their habitat.

Why is it called the silent extinction?

Conservationists, led by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, began using the phrase “silent extinction” because the giraffe’s decline went almost unnoticed. Giraffes are easy to see on safari and in zoos, so most people assumed they were common. Until the 2010s, there were few systematic counts and few scientists studying wild giraffes, compared with the attention given to elephants, rhinos and big cats.

Giraffes have already vanished from several countries in their former range, including Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea and Eritrea, and probably from Mali and Nigeria as well.

Where are giraffes recovering?

There is real good news. The West African giraffe in Niger fell to just 49 animals in 1996. Protected by local communities and the government, it now numbers more than 600, all living outside formal national parks alongside farmers.

Reticulated giraffe numbers have risen in northern Kenya, where community conservancies protect wildlife on shared land. Nubian giraffes in Uganda’s Murchison Falls National Park have increased, and groups have been moved to other parks to start new populations. Southern giraffes are doing well overall, helped by national parks and private reserves.

Translocations, carefully moving giraffes to safe areas where they once lived, have returned giraffes to parks in Uganda, Kenya and other countries. In 2023, giraffes were brought back to Angola’s Iona National Park after decades of absence.

How are giraffes protected?

Giraffes are protected by law in most countries where they occur, and killing them illegally can lead to prison sentences, for example in Tanzania, where the giraffe is the national animal. In 2017 they were added to the Convention on Migratory Species, and in 2019 to Appendix II of CITES, which means international trade in giraffe parts now requires permits and monitoring. In the United States, the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed in 2023 to list several giraffe groups under the Endangered Species Act.

On the ground, rangers, community scouts, aerial and ground surveys, GPS tracking and education programs all help. You can learn more about the animal itself in our giraffe profile, or browse other threatened species in our list of endangered animals.