How Many Giraffe Species Are There? One, Four or More?

The four giraffe species at a glance

Population figures come from the Giraffe Conservation Foundation’s 2025 counts and add up to roughly 140,000 giraffes in the wild. See the giraffe profile for size, diet and behavior shared by all four.

How did one giraffe species become four?

The Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus named the giraffe in 1758, and for most of the following centuries scientists treated all giraffes as one species, Giraffa camelopardalis. Naturalists did notice that giraffes in different regions had different coat patterns, and up to nine subspecies were named on that basis.

DNA changed the picture. A 2007 study of mitochondrial DNA suggested that some giraffe populations had not mixed for a very long time. A larger 2016 study, which compared several genes from giraffes across Africa, concluded that there are four distinct groups that had not exchanged genes for roughly one to two million years. A whole-genome study published in 2021 reached the same four-species result.

Not every scientist agreed straight away. Depending on the method, other analyses supported anywhere from two to six species, and a 2024 study found more ancient gene flow between populations than expected. After reviewing the evidence, the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group accepted four species with seven subspecies in August 2025.

The northern giraffe

The northern giraffe keeps the old name Giraffa camelopardalis and is the rarest species, with about 7,000 animals scattered across central, western and eastern Africa. It has three subspecies:

• Kordofan giraffe, about 2,400 animals in Chad, Cameroon, the Central African Republic and northern DR Congo
• Nubian giraffe, about 4,000 animals in Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia. The well-known Rothschild’s giraffe turned out to be genetically the same and is now included here
• West African giraffe, fewer than 700 animals, found only in Niger

Northern giraffes often have a prominent bony lump in the middle of the forehead, which is why they are sometimes called “three-horned” giraffes.

The reticulated giraffe

The reticulated giraffe (Giraffa reticulata) is the one most people picture: its coat has large, sharp-edged, liver-red patches separated by a fine network of white lines. “Reticulated” means net-like. It lives mainly in northern Kenya, with smaller numbers in southern Ethiopia and Somalia, and has no subspecies. About 21,000 remain, and numbers have recovered in parts of Kenya thanks to community conservancies.

The Masai giraffe

The Masai giraffe (Giraffa tippelskirchi) has jagged, leaf- or star-shaped blotches that extend down the legs. It lives in Kenya and Tanzania, where it is the national animal, and is the species most often seen on safaris in the Serengeti and Maasai Mara. Its two subspecies are the Masai giraffe itself, about 43,000 animals, and the small Luangwa giraffe (also called Thornicroft’s giraffe), fewer than 800 animals found only in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley.

The southern giraffe

The southern giraffe (Giraffa giraffa) is the most numerous species, with about 69,000 animals. Its spots are rounded or blotchy, often with star-like edges, and continue down to the hooves. It has two subspecies:

• Angolan giraffe, about 16,000 animals in Namibia, Botswana and neighboring countries, including desert-dwelling giraffes in northwestern Namibia
• South African giraffe, about 53,000 animals in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, many on private reserves

Why does the number of species matter?

Splitting giraffes into four species is not just a change of names. When all giraffes were lumped together, the species as a whole was assessed as Vulnerable, which hid the fact that some groups are in serious trouble. Under the old subspecies assessments, the Kordofan and Nubian giraffes are Critically Endangered and the reticulated and Masai giraffes are Endangered, while southern populations are doing comparatively well.

Recognizing four species helps governments and conservation groups target help where it is needed most, such as northern giraffes in central Africa. It also matters for zoos and for moving giraffes between reserves, because mixing different species could blur populations that have been separate for a very long time. Read more in Are giraffes endangered? The giraffe’s only living relative, the okapi, is a separate genus in the same family.