Heads up-Four Giraffa species have distinct cranial morphology

Nikolaos Kargopoulos; Jesús Marugán-Lobón; Anusuya Chinsamy; Bernard R. Agwanda; Michael Butler Brown; Stephanie Fennessy; Sara Ferguson; Rigardt Hoffman; Fredrick Lala; Arthur Muneza; Ogeto Mwebi; Moses Otiende; Alice Petzold; Sven Winter; Abdoul Razack Moussa Zabeirou; Julian Fennessy

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0315043

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Title (eng)

Heads up-Four Giraffa species have distinct cranial morphology

Author

Nikolaos Kargopoulos

Jesús Marugán-Lobón

Anusuya Chinsamy

Bernard R. Agwanda

Michael Butler Brown

Stephanie Fennessy

Sara Ferguson

Rigardt Hoffman

Fredrick Lala

Arthur Muneza

Ogeto Mwebi

Moses Otiende

Alice Petzold

Sven Winter

University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna

Abdoul Razack Moussa Zabeirou

Julian Fennessy

Abstract (eng)

Giraffe (Giraffa spp.) are among the most unique extant mammals in terms of anatomy, phylogeny, and ecology. However, aspects of their evolution, ontogeny, and taxonomy are unresolved, retaining lingering questions that are pivotal for their conservation. We assembled the largest known dataset of Giraffa skulls (n = 515) to investigate patterns of cranial variability using 3D geometric morphometrics. The results show distinct sexual dimorphism and divergent ontogenetic trajectories of skull shape for the north clade (G. camelopardalis antiquorum, G. c. camelopardalis, G. c. peralta, and G. reticulata) and the south clade (G. giraffa angolensis, G. g. giraffa, G. tippelskirchi tippelskirchi, and G. t. thornicrofti) which was further supported statistically. Discriminant functions found statistically significant cranial shape differences between all four Giraffa species, and in some cases also between subspecies of the same species. Our 3D morphometric analysis shows that the four genetically distinct Giraffa spp. also have distinct cranial morphologies, largely addressable to features of display (ossicones). Our results highlight the importance of focusing future giraffe conservation efforts on each taxon to maintain their unique characteristics and biodiversity in the wild.

Keywords (eng)

AnimalsSkull Anatomy & HistologyGiraffes Anatomy & HistologyGiraffes ClassificationMaleFemalePhylogenySpecies SpecifitySex CharacteristicsBiological Evolution

Type (eng)

journal article

Language

[eng]

Persistent identifier

https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:3904

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0315043

Is in series

Title (eng)

Plos One

Volume