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Scientists Discover Short-Legged Corgi Giraffes
Photo: Emma Wells, GCF
Being extremely tall is sort of a giraffe’s whole thing. So when scientists recently spotted two wild giraffes with relatively short legs nearly halving their adult height they were stunned.
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“The initial reaction was a bit of curious disbelief,” said Michael Brown, a conservation biologist with the Giraffe Conservation Foundation and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.
In 2015, Brown and his colleagues were conducting photographic surveys of the Nubian giraffes in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda, monitoring the animals’ abundance and geographic distribution. Sometimes, said Brown, the team can see hundreds of giraffes in a single day.
He may be smaller than his relatives but Gimli is confounding scientists and stealing hearts.
Your average giraffe stands at around 16 feet tall, making them the tallest mammals on Earth.
Michael Brown is a conservation science fellow with the Giraffe Conservation Foundation and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. He and his colleagues couldn t believe their eyes when they found a Nubian giraffe in Uganda’s Murchison Falls National Park in 2015 that was just 9 feet, 4 inches tall.
“The initial reaction was disbelief,” Dr. Brown said.
(Pic: Michael Brown)
Gimli the giraffe has the usual long neck, but his legs aren t. The scientists said it looked like someone had put a giraffe’s head and neck on a horse’s body.
Go on a virtual tour of the museum’s live insect zoo on Jan. 6. (Smithsonian)
Join Insect Zoo Lead Chris Mooney as he takes you behind-the-scenes at the National Museum of Natural History’s O. Orkin Insect Zoo. See real insects, including beetles, leaf cutter ants and walking sticks; learn about the unique features that help them survive and find out what it takes to be an animal keeper and scientist.
This webinar is designed for students in grades 3-5. It will be archived and available on the museum’s website after it airs on Jan. 6.
Jan. 9, 11 a.m. ET