Giraffe populations have declined by nearly 40% in 30 years due to habitat loss, poaching, and human-wildlife conflict, with species now facing extinction in a crisis that has received insufficient attention.
Individual giraffe welfare in declining populations includes malnutrition from habitat loss, separation from social groups through fragmentation, and trauma from poaching. Giraffes are cognitively complex animals with long-term social relationships between females and offspring. Habitat fragmentation isolates groups and prevents the ranging behavior giraffes require for adequate nutrition. The welfare dimension of giraffe extinction is the loss of billions of life-years of complex, socially-rich animals. Conservation that maintains habitat connectivity addresses individual welfare through enabling natural social groups and ranging.