There are not just one, but four giraffe species on the planet. After more than a decade of scientific debate, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) confirmed this significant change in the classification of the world's tallest land mammal in a report published Thursday, August 21. The IUCN – a global authority responsible for evaluating the conservation status of species – emphasizes that this study marks a major shift in giraffe taxonomy and reshapes how their diversity is understood and conserved.

Historically, only a single giraffe species and nine subspecies were recognized. But in recent years, advances in genetic analysis and the publication of new research have supported a revision of this classification. In 2016, for example, scientists argued, based on mitochondrial DNA analyses, that four separate species should be distinguished. "Since then, there's been a tremendous amount of scientific studies that have looked at giraffe taxonomy in particular. And in light of this accumulating evidence, we needed to review the issue," explained Michael Butler Brown, co-chair of the Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group (GOSG) of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. The okapi and giraffe together form the family Giraffidae.

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