Gimli And Nigel, The First Giraffe Dwarves In The World, Will Steal Your Heart At First Glance

Researchers from the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) have spotted two wild dwarf giraffes in Uganda and Namibia.

Filip

• Published in Animal Stories
• November 10, 2021

You may already know that giraffes are the tallest mammals on Earth, but did you know that there are no two giraffes with the same coat pattern, just like human fingerprints. Giraffes are fascinating animals, and speaking of which, researchers from the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) have spotted two wild dwarf giraffes in Africa.

Yes, you’ve read that right, it appears that dwarfism affects giraffes too. It sounds unbelievable, but the researchers from the GCF have indeed published a paper in BMC Research Notes, in which they described wild dwarf giraffes from two different populations.

These “little” fellas, were discovered on one of the regular photographic surveys GFC conducts. One of them was noticed in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda, and the other one on a private farm in Central Namibia.

After measuring the limb dimensions of the two giraffes photographed that day, researchers found out that these two had shorter legs compared to other specimens in the population. Shorter radius and metacarpal bones make them unique, but what is also interesting is that their necks are the same length.

The researchers themselves were surprised, as the lead author of the paper, Dr. Michael Brown said in one of her interviews:

“When we first saw these giraffes, the initial reaction was a bit of curious disbelief. These unique giraffes strike a remarkable contrast to other giraffes in the herd. During these surveys in Uganda, we work closely with Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers and I remember when we came across the dwarf giraffe, the ranger and I looked at each other to confirm that we both were seeing the same thing.”

If you are interested to see how they look, just scroll down and check the photos out. Meet Gimli and Nigel, the first known dwarf giraffes in the scientific literature.

Researchers from the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) stumbled upon dwarf giraffes during one of their photographic surveys, which they regularly conduct to determine population numbers, their dynamics, and distribution across Africa.

Dwarf giraffes measure at 8.5-9.3 feet high, while the average giraffes are approximately 15-20 feet high.

These two dwarf giraffes have names.

And Dr. Brown once explained the story behind that:

“To be honest, the giraffes aren’t really ours to name, but sometimes researchers give them nicknames to identify them as individuals and to better communicate them to other researchers. Gimli was indeed named in honor of the character from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy (as an interesting aside, when researching dwarfism in other wild animals, we learned that a dwarf elephant documented in Sri Lanka was also given the name Gimli… an interesting case of convergent naming). Nigel is just a lovely name given by one of the local folks in Namibia…I admittedly do not know the root of his name.”

Skeletal dysplasia (abnormal development of cells), aka dwarfism, is pretty rare among wild animals.

But these dwarf giraffes are not easy to be seen.

As one of the research team members, Emma Wells, said:

“While the Namibian farmer had spotted Nigel regularly over the years, it was only after our observations that he realized that Nigel was not a juvenile but a fully grown male giraffe. It is mainly in comparison to other giraffes that his difference in stature becomes obvious.”

In this photo, you can see a normal giraffe (A), and the two dwarf ones (B and C).

Get to know dwarf giraffes better by watching the video.

These new findings have for sure opened a new chapter in the study of giraffes. A lot of effort has to be put into the research because this is a whole new, unexplored field in science.

What is known for now is that dwarfism isn’t a good thing for giraffes. This makes them vulnerable because giraffes use their legs to defend themselves from predators.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Share your opinion in the comment section, and don’t forget to tell your friends about this magnificent new finding.

Filip