Abstract
ObjectiveSkeletal dysplasias, cartilaginous or skeletal disorders that sometimes result in abnormal bone development, are seldom reported in free-ranging wild animals. Here, we use photogrammetry and comparative morphometric analyses to describe cases of abnormal appendicular skeletal proportions of free-ranging giraffe in two geographically distinct taxa: a Nubian giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis camelopardalis) in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda and an Angolan giraffe (Giraffa giraffa angolensis) on a private farm in central Namibia.ResultsThese giraffe exhibited extremely shortened radius and metacarpal bones relative to other similarly aged giraffe. Both giraffe survived to at least subadult life stage. This report documents rare occurrences of these apparent skeletal dysplasias in free-ranging wild animals and the first records in giraffe.
Highlights
Skeletal dysplasias broadly refer to cartilaginous or skeletal disorders that may result in abnormalities in bone development
Measurements, descriptions, and videos of the focal subadult male are associated with the 17 March 2017 observation when the giraffe was known to be at least 15 months of age (Fig. 2b)
Using digital photogrammetry techniques, we performed comparative morphometric analyses to describe skeletaldysplasia-like syndromes in two wild giraffe from different taxa and demonstrated that the skeletal dimensions of these dysplastic giraffe are not consistent with the population measurements of giraffe in similar age classes
Summary
On 15 December 2015, we first observed a male Nubian giraffe calf in Murchison Falls NP, Uganda with apparently disproportionate limb dimensions relative to torso and neck. The Ugandan giraffe exhibited a phalanx length (21.2 cm) consistent with the reference measurements of subadult giraffe at the population level (20.0 cm, 3.30 SD) (t18 = − 1.63, p = 0.12), but the Namibian giraffe exhibited a relatively shortened phalanx measurement (15.8 cm) for a subadult giraffe (t18 = 5.54, p < 0.01) (Fig. 3a) Both the Ugandan giraffe (37.6 cm) (t22 = 13.78, p < 0.01) and the Namibian giraffe (50.5 cm) (t22 = 7.31, p < 0.01) exhibited metacarpal dimensions shorter than the population mean for subadults (65.1 cm, 9.57 SD) with the Ugandan giraffe exhibiting an extreme example (Fig. 3b).
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