Thornicroft's giraffe
subspecies of Masai giraffe sensu lato
Thornicroft's giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis thornicrofti), also known as the Rhodesian giraffe or Luangwa giraffe, is a subspecies of giraffe. It is sometimes considered a species in its own right (as Giraffa thornicrofti) or a subspecies of the Masai giraffe (as Giraffa tippelskirchi thornicrofti). It is geographically isolated, occurring only in Zambia's South Luangwa Valley. An estimated 550 live in the wild, with no captive populations. Its lifespan is 22 years for males and 28 years for females. The ecotype was originally named after Harry Scott Thornicroft, a commissioner in what was then North-Eastern Rhodesia and later Northern Rhodesia.
Description
Thornicroft's giraffes are tall with very long necks. They have long, dark tongues and skin-colored horns. Giraffes have a typical coat pattern, with regional differences among subspecies. The pattern consists of large, irregular shaped brown to black patches separated by white to yellow bands.
The public source identifies “Thornicroft's giraffe” as subspecies of Masai giraffe sensu lato. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Thornicroft's, giraffe and subspecies.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q110256441. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Thornicroft's giraffe” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.