When scientists concluded in 2007 that the giraffe-long regarded as a single species, Giraffa cameloparda-lis-should in fact be classified as six or more species, the news worried schoolchildren and conservationists alike. The finding, based largely on genetic evidence, suggested that these graceful, long-necked animals were in trouble. Lumped together as a single species, the giraffe seemed relatively healthy, with a population of up to 110,000 individuals scattered across sub-Saharan Africa.
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