Giraffes in Kenya
Some 45,000 giraffes live in Kenya. Above a giraffe at Lake Nakuru National Park (Wikiepdia).
There are 3 different subspecies found in Kenya; the Reticulated Giraffe (the form most commonly seen in Samburu) has narrow cream-coloured lines criss-crossing a brown background which gives the impression that the animal has been encased in a net. The Maasai Giraffe (common in Amboseli, Tsavo and the Maasai Mara) has less well defined markings and lacks the clean lines of the Reticulated Giraffe, the markings can sometimes look like small rosettes of dark brown on a creamy-yellow background. Rothschild’s Giraffe (which can be seen at Lake Nakuru and on Crecent Island in Lake Naivasha) carries a similar pattern to the Maasai Giraffe but has long white socks.
Researchers classify Rothschild’s giraffe as endangered
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With less than 670 Rothschild’s giraffes surviving in the wild, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List has listed the subspecies as ‘Endangered’. Surviving in Kenya and Uganda, Rothschild’s giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi) is hanging on in small isolated populations usually in protected areas where populations are already at a maximum
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