Scientists surprised to discover two dwarf giraffes in Namibia, Uganda

科学家惊讶地在乌干达的纳米比亚发现了两只矮长颈鹿

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Being tall is the giraffe's competitive advantage, giving it the pick of leaves from the tallest trees, so scientists were stunned to find two giraffe dwarves on different sides of Africa.

约翰内斯堡(路透社)——高是长颈鹿的竞争优势，让它可以从最高的树上摘下树叶，但科学家们在非洲不同的地方却发现了两只长颈鹿矮个子。


Most giraffes grow to 15 - 20 feet (4.5 - 6 metres), but in 2018, scientists working with the foundation discovered an 8 1/2-foot (2.6 metre) giraffe in Namibia.Three years earlier, they had also found a 9-foot 3-inch (2.8 metre) giraffe in a Ugandan wildlife park.

大多数长颈鹿会长到15 - 20英尺(4.5 - 6米)，但在2018年，与基金会合作的科学家在纳米比亚发现了一只8.5英尺(2.6米)的长颈鹿。三年前，他们还在乌干达野生动物园发现了一只9英尺3英寸(2.8米)的长颈鹿。

They published their findings in the British Medical Journal at the end of last month.

他们在上月底的《英国医学杂志》上发表了他们的发现。

In both cases, the giraffes had the standard long necks but short, stumpy legs, the paper said.Skeletal dysplasia, the medical name for the condition, affects humans and domesticated animals, but the paper said it was rare to see in wild animals.

报纸上说，在这两种情况下，长颈鹿都有标准的长脖子，但腿又短又粗。这一疾病的医学名称为骨骼发育不良，它影响着人类和家养动物，但该论文称这种情况在野生动物中很少见。



Numbers of the world's tallest mammal have declined by some 40% over the past 30 years to around 111,000, so all four species are classified by conservationists as 'vulnerable'.

在过去的30年里，世界上最高的哺乳动物的数量下降了大约40%，达到111000只左右，因此被自然资源保护主义者归类为“脆弱”物种多达四个。

"It's because of mostly habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, growing human populations, more land being cultivated," Fennessy said."Combined with a little bit of poaching, climate change".

芬尼斯说:“这主要是因为栖息地的丧失、栖息地的破碎化、人口的增长、更多的土地被耕种。”。“加上一点点偷猎，气候变化”。

But conservation efforts have helped numbers start to recover in the past decade, he added.

但他补充说，在过去的十年里，努力的保护已经使得数字开始恢复。