While historically assumed to be one species, through extensive research, the Giraffe Conservation Foundation and our partners have clearly shown that there are four distinct species of giraffe in Africa: Masai, northern, reticulated and southern giraffe. Some of these species can further be divided in subspecies as listed below.
All four giraffe species and their subspecies occupy distinct geographic areas in Africa, and there are only a combined total of approximately 140,000 giraffe remaining in the wild.
While hybridization between species has been reported in captivity, our collaborative studies have shown that this is not the case in the wild.
These groundbreaking findings are instrumental in shaping future giraffe conservation strategies throughout the continent.
For more detailed information about the numbers and range of each of the four species of giraffe, check out our State of Giraffe 2025 report or scroll down further.
All species and subspecies in numbers:
| Masai giraffe | Giraffa tippelskirchi | 43,926 |
| Luangwa giraffe | G. t. thornicrofti | 764 |
| Masai giraffe | G. t. tippelskirchi | 43,162 |
| Northern giraffe | Giraffa camelopardalis | 7,037 |
| Kordofan giraffe | G. c. antiquorum | 2,391 |
| Nubian giraffe | G. c. camelopardalis | 3,977 |
| West African giraffe | G. c. peralta | 669 |
| Reticulated giraffe | Giraffa reticulata | 20,901 |
| Southern giraffe | Giraffa giraffa | 68,837 |
| Angolan giraffe | G. g. angolensis | 15,663 |
| South African giraffe | G. g. giraffa | 53,174 |
