Giraffes' extinction is a common picture across Africa in the recent years and wildlife experts say this is primarily due to poaching and significant loss of natural habitat.
The population of the largest ruminant is said to have been dwindling in Africa in the recent years and somehow it is mainly unnoticed by many people, ABC News reports.
"It's a silent extinction," Dr. Julian Fennessy, Executive Director of the Namibian-based Giraffe Conservation Research group said.
Hennessy is the lead scientist of a comprehensive assessment on the possible giraffe extinction and he has been studying the wildlife for more than 16 years now.
The new study Fennessy and his team are conducting at due to be published in 2015, but so far they have known that the dwindling in the number of mammals has been more than 40 percent in the past 15 years.
"The numbers have gone down from 140,000 to fewer than 80,000 today, said Fennessy.
According to the British research group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, two subspecies of giraffes have already been categorised as "endangered."
As of late, there are only less than 300 "West African giraffes" in Niger while only fewer than 700 "Rothschild's giraffes" are living in Uganda and Kenya.
While wildlife experts at Elephant Without Borders said giraffes' extinction is brought about by "habitat loss and fragmentation," they admitted that poaching is also a big contributing factor, according to The Times.
"Poaching has big impact on certain areas, especially in East and Central Africa," the giraffe expert added.
In some places like in Tanzania, poaching of giraffes is carried out because some believe that the brains and bone marrow of these animals can help cure HIV-AIDS victims.
"It is believed [in Tanzania] that giraffe brains and bone marrow can cure HIV-AIDS victims," said Rothschild Giraffe Project researcher Zoe Muller. "freshly severed heads and giraffe bones can fetch prices of up to $140 per piece."
In rural African communities, bush meat not only forms a large part of the diet but also provides an important source of income," Muller added. "Killing a giraffe involves relatively little effort for the amount of meat yielded as a large quarry can be secured with a single gun-shot."
African governments have already imposed restrictions on hunting giraffes, but Muller said many continue to hunt down these terrestrial animals illegally.
Zoological Society of London's Dr. Noelle Kumpel said that biggest local threat on the population of giraffes is the fact that poachers them as an easy source of meat, Daily Mail has learned.
"Traditionally they get caught in snares by the poorer local people just looking for food," Kumpel said. "But those hunting higher profile animals have the firearms and automatic weapons which make it simple to kill the noticeable giraffe."
Experts say giraffe meat is being exported to China and Vietnam where the demand for such is high despite an international ban.
"Being delicious is one thing, but there's also a bucket-load of meat, and they're not difficult to hunt."
Giraffes' extinction is expected to be a major problem if poachers continue what they are doing. And when this happens, they could be classified as the most endangered large mammal in Africa.
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