The world’s smallest giraffes!
The average height of a giraffe is around 18 feet tall, but the 2 giraffes that were found in Africa are only 9.
They are believed to be born with Dwarfism.
Conservation researchers discovered a Nubian giraffe in Uganda that is only 9 feet and 4 inches tall.
The second one that they discovered was an Angolan giraffe, which stood at around 8 feet and 5 inches.
Dwarfism is a type of genetical disease that results in abnormalities that are born in bone development.
It is also characterized by a shortened and irregularly proportioned anatomy.
The 2 giraffes have been named as Nigel and Gimel.
They were spotted by conservation scientists that were working with the Giraffe Conservation Foundation at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.
Gimil, a Nubian giraffe, was first observed in 2015 at the Murchison Falls National Park of Uganda.
Gimil was last observed in July of 2020, where experts took images and measurements of the extremely rare animal.
Nigel, an Angolan giraffe, was living on a private farm in central Namibia and was monitored for a number of images.
Researchers shared the case in a study that was published in the journal BMC Research Notes.
In the study, the researchers wrote:
Using digital photogrammetry techniques, we performed comparative morphometric analyses to describe skeletaldysplasia-like syndromes in two wild giraffe from different taxa and demonstrated that the skeletal dimensions of these dysplastic giraffe are not consistent with the population measurements of giraffe in similar age classes.
Researchers that looked at the giraffes said that the condition that they have should not be affecting their survival rate in the wild.
What a rare find!
What are your thoughts on the giraffes that are born with dwarfism? Let us know what you think about it by leaving a comment in the comments section below!