Giraffe numbers have fallen 40% in 30 years. Most people haven't noticed. We look at why, and what's being done about it.

While perhaps not as high-profile as some of Africa’s other endangered animals, the world’s tallest mammal is facing a quiet crisis. In the last 30 years, giraffe populations have dwindled dramatically, with numbers falling by around 40% in Africa, the only continent wild giraffes inhabit. The decline has been slow enough that it has escaped the attention often given to more visibly threatened species, earning the giraffe the unenviable description of a ‘silent extinction’.

Yet a major International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reclassification in 2025 highlighted just how much more remains to be understood about giraffes. Where giraffes were previously considered a single group, the report officially recognised four distinct species: the Northern, Reticulated, Masai, and Southern giraffe. The change could have significant implications for conservation, allowing efforts to be more precisely targeted towards the distinct threats facing each species and their populations.

For some giraffe populations, the situation is more acute than for others. According to the IUCN, fewer than 20,000 reticulated giraffes are estimated to remain in the wild, representing a 56% decrease over the past three decades. These giraffe populations are found primarily in northern Kenya and parts of the Horn of Africa, their numbers increasingly squeezed by habitat loss, illegal hunting, drought and growing competition with people for land and water.

Human-wildlife conflict is becoming an increasingly serious threat to giraffes as their habitats overlap more closely with expanding human settlements and agricultural land. As traditional wildlife corridors and access to water become more limited, particularly during periods of drought, giraffes are pushed into communities in search of food and water. This brings them into direct contact with people whose own livelihoods depend on the same scarce resources. On occasion, these disputes unfortunately turn hostile, with farmers being known to resort to snares and spears in some areas to keep giraffes away from their land.

Research into human-giraffe conflict in northeastern Kenya illustrates the complexity of the challenge. A recent study involving 400 households around the Bour-Algy Giraffe Sanctuary found that local people generally viewed giraffes positively and as low risk, with many reporting little or no direct damage from the animals. Where tensions did exist, they were often focused less on the giraffes themselves and more so on the underlying pressures they share with humans in the surrounding area.

But conservation cannot succeed if local communities are expected to bear the costs of protecting wildlife without having their own needs addressed. Creating space for giraffes means finding ways for people and wildlife to share landscapes more safely, and more successfully.

This is where organisations such as Uganda Conservation Foundation (UCF), a Tusk partner, play a critical role.

In Uganda, UCF works alongside the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) to protect some of the country’s most threatened wildlife and the habitats on which they depend. In Murchison Falls National Park, an important stronghold for Nubian giraffes (formerly classified as Rothschild’s giraffes and also known as the Ugandan giraffe), UCF supports ranger patrols, law enforcement and veterinary teams to help protect giraffes from threats including snaring and illegal hunting. Its research programme also monitors the health of giraffe populations, investigating emerging threats such as unexplained skin lesions.

Tusk’s support helps UCF take this work further, from strengthening wildlife protection on the ground to supporting community conservation and education programmes. This is particularly important where people and wildlife share increasingly pressured landscapes. By combining habitat protection, wildlife monitoring and community engagement, the partnership addresses not only the immediate threats to giraffes but some of the underlying pressures driving human-wildlife conflict.

The interaction between Tusk and on-the-ground partners such as the UCF gives real cause for optimism for those hoping that some of the world’s most loved animals remain plentiful. As the research in Kenya demonstrated, support for giraffes remains strong in local communities. In Uganda, sustained conservation efforts have also helped the Nubian giraffe population recover from fewer than 200 to more than 2,000. These successes demonstrate what can happen when wildlife protection is combined with local engagement and long-term investment.

But recovery cannot be taken for granted. Across Africa, giraffe populations remain under significant pressure, with many facing an uncertain future. The progress made in Uganda offers a reminder that this decline can be reversed, but only if conservation efforts continue to match the scale of the challenge.