Uganda hostshosts many rare mammal species, such as the immediate mountain gorilla is mentioned. Uganda is blessed to have abundant flora and fauna that harbor an even rarer mammal species. Rothschild’s giraffe (also called giraffes in Uganda or Baringo giraffe):): According to September 2015, Rothschild’s total estimated number was around 840 individuals, scattered across 13 populations in Uganda, South Sudan, and Kenya. Although the species is already extinct, this makes Rothschild’s giraffe one of the rarest mammal species in the world. In comparison, while the Rothschild giraffe is still in the danger zone, Uganda today hosts more than 900 mountain gorillas being protected in the Afromontane forests in Uganda, the DRC, and Rwanda.

 

Ever since 2007, the Rothschild’s giraffe has been acknowledged as a unique species but not as a subspecies. According to the IUCN, in 2012, it listed Rothschild’s giraffe as an endangered species. If no action is taken, Rothschild’s giraffe will face extinction in the near future. Furthermore, there are more beautiful animals protected in zoos around the world.

distribution of Rothschild in Africa

 

Rothschild's giraffes were originally found in the Rift Valley region of west-central Kenya, along the Nile River in Uganda, and in the northwestern part of southern Sudan.

 

Lately, Rothschild’s giraffes can be spotted only in the wild in Uganda and Kenya. Kenya has reintroduced Rothschild giraffe populations that occur in mutually isolated, fenced areas in most disclosed places, such as Lake Nakuru National Park. 

 

Rothschild’s giraffes' drastic declining population The Rothschild’s giraffe population began to decline in the early 1960s and 1970s of the last century due to the civil war. from an estimate of about 2000 individuals in 1960, although the Rothschild giraffes’ population dropped from 2000 to about 200 individuals in 1999. Today, Rothschild giraffes’ greatest threats are the continued human population growth that encroaches on protected areas, poachers, segregation of giraffe populations, and human-wildlife conflicts.

 

Distribution of Rothschild giraffe’s population in Uganda

Uganda’s Rothschild giraffe population is concentrated in the northern savannah parks, such as Murchison Falls National Park and Kidepo Valley National Park. The Rothschild giraffe’s population is the only one of its unique species that travelers can spot in Uganda.

 

According to the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the wild Rothschild giraffe population in Murchison Falls National Park was over 750, but by 1991, there were only 78 individuals surviving in the wild.

 

Kidepo valley national park had a total of 400 Rothschild giraffes in 1970, but the consistent threat made the Rothschild giraffe population reduce to only five individuals by 1997, and three individuals, including one male and two females, were brought from Kenya to Lake Nakuru National Park. Recently, the Rothschild giraffe’s population stood at 65 individuals.

 

Uganda’s Rothschild giraffes Rescue mission

In June and early July 2015, the Ugandan body that is responsible for the protection of all protected areas in Uganda, called the Uganda Wildlife Authority, translocated over 15 Rothschild’s giraffes to Uganda’s smallest national park, Lake Mburo National Park. The translocation of the Rothschild giraffe’s purpose is to guarantee the conservation of the Rothschild giraffe species by disturbing the Rothschild giraffe population across Uganda. Scattering Rothschild’s population, for example, will make it less vulnerable to deadly infectious diseases that could wipe out the largest population. 

In the near future, more Rothschild’s giraffes from within Murchison Falls National Park will be translocated to Uganda’s second-largest national park, Queen Elizabeth National Park, and to the southern section of Murchison Falls National Park.

 

Conclusion

Travelers visiting Ugandan parks such as Murchison Falls National Park, Lake Mburo National Park, and Kidepo Valley National Park should be sure of spotting the Rothschild’s giraffes, which are unique in their own kind. No one is sure, and it should not happen, that this unique Rothschild type of giraffe will face extinction in the near future.

Uganda Wildlife Authority is convinced of the importance of protecting the Rothschild’s giraffe from extinction. Uganda protects Rothschild regardless of the two negative reports in 2011 stating that oil drilling in Murchison Falls National Park will threaten the population of Rothschild’s giraffe.