4 giraffe species officially recognized in major conservation shift
Photo by Li Mengxin/Xinhua via Getty Images
(LONDON) — Giraffes, long considered a single species, have now been recognized as four genetically distinct species in a major decision by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) that scientists say could reshape conservation efforts across Africa.
The announcement comes after more than a decade of research by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) and Germany’s Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre where scientists found that the genetic differences between the four species — Masai, northern, reticulated, and southern — are as significant as those between brown bears and polar bears.
“This recognition is more than academic,” said Dr. Julian Fennessy, GCF’s Director of Conservation. “Each giraffe species faces different threats, and now we can tailor conservation strategies to meet their specific needs.”
The most at-risk is the northern giraffe, with fewer than 6,000 individuals left in the wild, while the reticulated giraffe, mostly found in northern Kenya, is estimated at around 16,000 — though that is more than a 50% decrease from the 36,000 individuals estimated to have lived 35 years ago.
The Masai giraffe, a common sight in Tanzania’s national parks, has a population of approximately 45,400. Only the southern giraffe, whose numbers count approximately 49,850 individuals, is considered relatively stable by GCF.
According to GCF’s 2025 status report, giraffes have disappeared from almost 90% of the regions once considered prime habitats, including several West African countries where they are now extinct.
“This announcement will surprise many — how could we have overlooked something so fundamental?” said Fennessy. “But it underscores the importance of combining fieldwork with genetics to drive real-world conservation outcomes.”
The current classification had remained unchanged since 1758, when all giraffes were placed under a single species. That view persisted until 2016 when researchers first published genetic data suggesting deeper divisions.
The studies involved DNA samples from thousands of giraffes collected across 21 African countries, along with a recently published morphological study of giraffe skulls. The findings led the IUCN’s Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group to formally recognize four species this week.
“To describe four new large mammal species after more than 250 years of taxonomy is extraordinary,” said Prof. Axel Janke. “Especially for animals as iconic as giraffe, which roam Africa in plain sight.”
The new classification could lead to a change in global conservation policies and each species will now be independently assessed for the IUCN Red List, opening the door to targeted protections under agreements like the U.S. Endangered Species Act, which is currently considering a listing for giraffes.
The move also allows countries to potentially direct conservation funding more precisely.
The GCF says the next step is to implement species-specific strategies, including habitat protection, anti-poaching patrols and community conservation, instead of treating giraffes as a uniform population.
“What a tragedy it would be to lose a species we only just learned existed,” said Stephanie Fennessy, GCF’s Executive Director.
Smoke rises after an Israeli strike on the Sabra neighborhood in southern Gaza City, as Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip, which began on Oct. 7, 2023, continue without interruption and military activity in the region persists, in Gaza City, Gaza on October 08, 2025. (Photo by Hamza Z. H. Qraiqea/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — As U.S. officials and leaders in the Middle East are celebrating the proposed Gaza ceasefire deal between the Israeli government and Hamas but there are still many questions over the timeline and challenges to end the fighting and return the hostages that lie ahead before a deal to completely end the war is in place.
These include details of the deal’s timeline, and challenges to end the fighting and return the hostages.
The first phase of the deal, which is slated to be approved by the Israeli government on Thursday, will see all remaining hostages returned from Gaza, a number of Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli prisons and the partial withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces inside the Gaza Strip.
It is expected that humanitarian aid will move quickly into Gaza once land crossings are opened back up.
A senior Israeli official told ABC News on Thursday that the 72-hour window for Hamas to release all hostages will begin after the Israeli government ratifies the deal.
The 20 hostages believed to still be alive are expected to be released all in one group on Sunday or Monday, the official said. President Donald Trump, speaking at a cabinet meeting at the White House on Thursday, said that the release of the hostages could be Monday or Tuesday.
Then, negotiators will move to the next phase of Trump’s 20-point peace plan, which was unveiled in late September.
Sources familiar with the negotiations told ABC News agreements still need to be reached on some of the most difficult points of the plan.
These include the total withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, Hamas ceding control of Gaza, disarming and decommissioning the militant group’s weapons, and turning Gaza’s governance over to an international trusteeship overseen by the U.S. and Arab allies.
The challenges to implementing these terms are immense, according to sources with knowledge of the negotiations.
European and Arab allies plan to convene in Paris on Thursday for a Gaza “day after” meeting.
The meeting will focus on three main areas: security, governance and reconstruction. Conversations on Palestinian statehood will also be discussed, a French diplomatic source said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was initially considering participating in the Paris meeting, but he told reporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday that he is not expected to attend the meeting due to the rapidly moving situation in the Middle East. Rubio made the statement before it was announced that the first phase of a ceasefire deal had been reached.
An administration official told ABC News that if President Trump heads to the Middle East this weekend, Rubio will be traveling with him.
ABC News’ Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
Workers describe the housing the Bangladesh government is building for thousands of Rohingya refugees. ABC
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration is asserting that it has secured substantial financial commitments for the Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh from partner nations as reports claim that U.S. foreign aid cutbacks have worsened the crisis facing the persecuted group, according to a State Department document obtained exclusively by ABC News.
Per the document, the State Department says it has secured $64.6 million in aid commitments from partner countries in September alone, marking what it calls “a significant development in the Trump administration’s effort to encourage burden sharing with other nations to address humanitarian crises across the globe.”
State Department data indicates that 11 countries, including the U.K., Bangladesh, Japan, Qatar, Australia, Thailand, South Korea, and the Netherlands, have increased their aid to the Rohingya people by more than 10% under the Trump administration in 2025 compared to the last year of the Biden administration, the document states.
The level of influence the Trump administration had over the uptick in aid from these foreign governments is not clear.
The Trump administration also pledged more funding to support Rohingya refugees in September, committing $60 million to the cause in addition to $73 in new assistance announced in March.
In 2024, the final year of the Biden administration, the U.S. contributed just over $300 million to the Rohingya, over 50% of total support for that year, records show.
“The Trump administration has continuously called on nations around the world to join the United States in offering humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations like Rohingya refugees,” a senior State Department official said. “The media narrative that the obligation to provide aid falls solely on the Trump Administration is tired and ignores the reality that many other countries, including regional actors, have repeatedly failed to step up.”
The State Department’s push to ramp up foreign aid for the Rohingya comes as the AP has published a report asserting that Rohingya children have died in a camp located in Myanmar because of the Trump administration’s USAID cuts. (Notably, the report covers impact to Rohingya children in Myanmar; the Trump administration’s fundraising efforts have focused on supporting Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.)
“Let me be absolutely clear: the Associated Press’ claim that children are dying because of recalibrated U.S. foreign assistance levels is completely false and downright irresponsible,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Contributor/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — On NATO’s eastern edge, leaders of the Baltic nations have long considered themselves more awake to the threat from Moscow than their allies to the west, a collective memory of Russian and Soviet occupation seared into their national narratives.
“We know that Russia is going to move forward,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene told ABC News during her visit to Kyiv last weekend. “We in Lithuania, we remember very well. So, that means that we have to prepare ourselves.”
“This terrible threat is also an opportunity for us to grow the muscle where we need it to be,” Sakaliene added.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine from February 2022 served as vindication for NATO’s eastern-most nations, who for years had been warning their Western allies that Moscow could not be a reliable partner.
With President Donald Trump now seeking to press Moscow and Ukraine into a peace deal, Sakaliene said the West should focus on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions rather than his words.
“I don’t want to sound pessimistic, but this is an ongoing process, which, again, in my opinion, is severely complicated by the fact that Putin keeps bombing, that Putin keeps annihilating Ukraine,” Sakaliene said.
“When he talks about peace, it’s not even funny — it’s just absurd,” she continued. “He is now playing the game of pretending to be participating in talks, of having a dialogue, while at the same time he’s moving full speed forward.”
“This stalling of our additional sanctions, of additional pressure, simply gives him room for further military actions in Ukraine,” Sakaliene said.
Trump presses Putin on peace
Putin and his top officials have claimed willingness to make a deal, though have demanded the freezing of the current front lines and Ukraine’s withdrawal from key battlefields including those in Donetsk Oblast in the east of the country.
Moscow also wants Ukraine permanently barred from NATO membership, opposes the deployment of any Western troops to the country as part of any future security guarantees and wants all international sanctions lifted.
The shape of the intended security guarantees is still being forged. Trump has committed some level of American involvement, though also this month ruled out deploying U.S. troops to Ukraine.
Following the Aug. 15 summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska, Trump appeared to have dropped his demand for a full ceasefire before peace negotiations. Ukraine and its European backers maintain that no terms can be agreed to while the fighting is ongoing.
“I think that we are moving forward, but slowly,” Sakaliene said.
“The killing has not stopped and it doesn’t really matter what term we use, the war is actively ongoing,” Sakaliene said when asked about the shape of any peace deal. “That means that talking about any security guarantees during the full-scale invasion — which is going on in a full-blown capacity — is not possible.”
Sakaliene said she was encouraged by Trump’s recent social media post suggesting that his predecessor, President Joe Biden, should have allowed Ukraine “to play offensive” by striking deep within Russia. “I agree wholeheartedly,” she said.
When asked if she thought Trump would greenlight such strikes, the minister replied, “We may hope.”
“All the patience and wish for diplomacy” so far demonstrated by Trump, she continued, “was not met with any goodwill from the other side. Russia has not demonstrated a single millimeter of goodwill.”
Trump this week again expressed his frustration with Russia’s continued long-range strikes on Ukraine, and again hinted at consequences “over the next week or two” if Moscow failed to make moves towards peace.
The president did not say what those consequences might be, though he has previously threatened more sanctions and secondary tariffs on customers of Russian energy exports. The White House has imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods related to New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian military equipment and energy goods.
“The United States has very powerful leverage,” Sakaliene said. Secondary sanctions, she added, could have “nuclear effects and we’d love to see them,” along with permission to “use whatever weapons to whatever targets” necessary to help Ukraine on the battlefield.
Those two measures are “the only tangible motivation for Putin to sit at the negotiation table,” Sakaliene said.
‘America First’
The Trump administration has made clear that Europeans — not Americans — will be expected to shoulder most of the burden of any future security guarantees for Ukraine. More broadly, Trump has long demanded that Europeans do, and pay, more to protect their own continent.
“We are going to do even more,” Sakaliene said, noting the recent agreement of NATO nations to raise the collective defense spending target to 5% of GDP. But the U.S., she said, will remain a key security partner and guarantor, regardless of Europe’s efforts to achieve greater self-reliance.
“When we talk about certain capabilities, let’s be honest, for at least a decade in certain areas, the United States is going to remain the ‘influencer,’ the main capability guarantor,” she said.
“Do you really want to lose the United States as the dominant power in security architecture globally?” Sakaliene asked. Without “a very clear dominance of the United States, then we have a dogfight,” she said.
“Then we have probably a very dangerous shift, a very dangerous shakedown of this current structure of power,” Sakaliene said. “I don’t think anybody’s going to like it. China is already trying to become number one.”
Europeans have already committed to buying more weapons from the U.S., both for themselves and for Ukraine. Indeed, arms sales have become a key metric of success for Trump.
Sakaliene said that both sides of the Atlantic will need each other in a coming era of great power competition.
“Regretfully, the level of our need is so much higher than the current level of supply,” she said of military resources. “And regretfully, this decade of wars is not over.”
Sakaliene traveled to Washington, D.C., in July with other Baltic defense ministers to meet with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. There, she said, the Baltic officials were assured that American forces are not about to abandon their allies.
“The United States is not leaving,” she said. “As they said, ‘The United States first, but the United States not alone’.”
For all the talk of America’s pivot to face down the China challenge in the Indo-Pacific, Sakaliene — who was sanctioned by Beijing after the European Union imposed sanctions on China over its policies in Xinjiang — suggested that different theaters cannot be so easily separated.
“Even though sometimes it seems that we can draw red lines on the map — this is the Indo-Pacific, this is Europe, this is the Middle East — that’s not how it works,” she said.
A secure and peaceful Europe would be a vital ally for the U.S. in any future conflict with China in the Indo-Pacific, Sakaliene said. Continued conflict with Russia on the continent, though, may hamstring Europeans and undermine a united Western front in Asia.
“This world has become as small as ever,” she said. “Joint coordinated actions by Russia and China and their smaller evil allies — this is what we are facing right now, and this is the main challenge of this decade, in my opinion.”
On the Baltic front
The Baltic region, Sakaliene suggested, can offer valuable lessons to the U.S. and its fellow NATO allies for the conflicts of the future.
“See the bigger picture,” she said when asked what lessons she wants to impart to her NATO counterparts. “I’ve had some very useful meetings with my colleagues from the Indo-Pacific and the problems that we see in the Baltics are very similar to what the Philippines, or Singapore, or Japan — or of course, Taiwan — see.”
The use of shadow fleets to evade sanctions, attacks on underwater critical infrastructure, cyber attacks and electronic warfare — most prominently the use of GPS jamming and spoofing technologies — have all become commonplace in the Baltic Sea. Such tactics could also become more visible and common in the waters of the Indo-Pacific in years to come, Sakaliene said.
For now, she suggested, the capacity of Europe’s military industry still lags far behind its civil industry. Western allies need to produce quality technology at great speed and in greater mass, Sakaliene said, potentially aided by combining civil and military capacities.
“Technologies do evolve,” she said. “We really have to speed it up.”
