National Geographic - USA (2022-01)

114

I AM SCARED

ABOUT THE

STATE OF NATURE

BUT ALSO

HOPEFUL ... NATURE

IS RESILIENT

AND, IF IT [IS]

NOT TAMPERED

WITH, CAN

BOUNCE BACK.”

—Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka,

National Geographic

Explorer and founder of

Conservation Through

Public Health

Giraffes move

through Chobe

National Park, in

Botswana, at sunset.

Because most giraffe

habitats in Africa are

outside protected

areas, urban develop-

ment, crop growing,

and livestock graz-

ing are isolating the

animals into smaller,

more fragmented pop-

ulations. As a result,

extinction threatens

the world’s tallest land

mammal, whose num-

bers are about 68,000

adults and falling.

JUNE 0 8 SHRINKING HABITATS THREATEN GIRAFFES