[Taxacom] How many species of giraffes?

[John Grehan]

Ken, would it not make the best sense for you to send this proposal to
those active in giraffe taxonomy? If its such a good idea perhaps they will
make the recommendation to IUCN?

John Grehan

On Wed, May 30, 2018 at 9:54 PM, Kenneth Kinman <kinman at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Dear All,
>       I was surprised to learn that the IUCN still only recognizes a
> single species of giraffe.  Perhaps because of the confusion/controversy
> over how many species to actually recognize by various authors (perhaps
> four or six?).
>
>        Until the controversies are played out (which could take many
> years), it seems to me that IUCN should at least take the first step and
> split the single species into at least two species of giraffe: (1) a
> southern species including the South African, Masai, and Angolan giraffes;
> and (2) a northern species.
>
>        I think most workers would agree that there at least two species.
> So the next step would then be to determine if the four species proposal
> has merit:  splitting G. tippelskirchi from the other southern forms;
> and/or splitting G. reticulata from the other northern forms.
>
>        It seems to me that such a stepwise approach would be better than
> just sitting around pretending that there is just one species just because
> there is no consensus how many species we will eventually agree upon.
> There are plenty of researchers out there who at least agree there are more
> than one species, and they could certainly agree that there are at least
> two.  Therefore, I would encourage IUCN to at least take that first step as
> soon as possible.  There is little reason not to take that first step just
> because there is disagreement how many species should ultimately be
> recognized.
>
>                         -----------Ken Kinman. usually a lumper, but a
> little splitting seems appropriate here
>
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