Image copyright Reuters

It is a famous, gentle giant of the African savannah, but the giraffe's genetics have just revealed that there is not one species, but four.

Giraffes have previously been recognised to be a single species divided into several sub-species.

But this latest study of their DNA suggests that four groups of giraffes have not cross-bred and exchanged genetic material for millions of years.

This is a clear indication that they have evolved into distinct species.

The study published in the journal Current Biology has rewritten the biology of Earth's tallest mammal.

The scientists say their findings could inform the conservation efforts for all four species of giraffe.

Conservation was the catalyst for this genetic research; the Giraffe Conservation Foundation asked the team to carry out genetic analysis of giraffes in Namibia.

The foundation wanted to understand the genetic differences between different giraffe populations, to see how the animals might be affected if different subspecies were mixed together when animals were moved into protected areas.

What we found then, says Axel Janke, a geneticist at the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, who led the research, "was that the sub-species were genetically very different and separate.

"I'd never seen that in a population study [of a species] before."

This initial study examined what is known as mitochondrial DNA - a packet of DNA within every cell's "engine". This is useful for population genetics - it can be easily isolated and contains lots of known variants that can track relatedness.

But mitochondrial DNA is not part of the code that builds an animal, so Dr Janke decided to examine and compare parts of that code - the nuclear DNA.

"It turned out, he told BBC News, that, for example, "the whole clade of northern giraffes was very different from reticulated giraffes."

"Our findings indicated four distinct species."

Those four species include:

southern giraffe ( Giraffa giraffa ),

), Masai giraffe ( G. tippelskirchi ),

), reticulated giraffe ( G. reticulata )

) northern giraffe (G. camelopardalis), which includes the Nubian giraffe (G. c. camelopardalis) as a distinct but related subspecies.

While giraffes had always been thought to be of one species, Dr Janke likened the difference between one species and another - in terms of their genetic code - to that of a Polar bear compared with a brown bear.

Image copyright Julian Fennessy Image caption Juvenile Southern Giraffes

Image copyright Julian Fennessy Image caption Reticulated giraffe

This suggests that each species is adapted for a specific environment or diet - a question that is the subject of his team's next research project.

Neglected by science

Matthew Cobb, professor of zoology at the University of Manchester explained that the "four groups of giraffes had "been separated for 1-2 million years, with no evidence of genes being exchanged between them".

Image copyright Julie Maher Image caption Masai Giraffe

Image copyright Julian Fennessy (GCF) Image caption Northern Giraffe

"This is an important finding that will enable conservation biologists to target their efforts and, perhaps, to come up with new conservation approaches in captivity or in the wild, based on the genetic similarities and differences between these groups," Professor Cobb told BBC News.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Mike Jordan from Chester Zoo tells the BBC's Victoria Gill how a surprising discovery about giraffes could impact conservation.

Dr Janke commented: "We've clearly completely forgotten what a giraffe is."

He added that conservation programmes focused on specific species - understanding an animal's life, behaviour and habitat, to inform how it can be protected in the wild.

In the last 15 years, the population of giraffes has declined by 40% - there are now an estimated 90,000 individuals in the wild. But, as a single species, they are classified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as of Least Concern.

Now, it is clear that each of these four newly classified species could be faring very differently.

It's important to raise awareness for conservation, said Dr Janke, "to protect his beautiful animal of which we know so little."

Follow Victoria on Twitter. </s> After studying DNA evidence, scientists have discovered that the giraffe is not one species, but four.

They have said the four distinct species are genetically at least as different as brown and polar bears.

Until now, only a single species of giraffe made up of several sub-species had been recognised.

The unexpected discovery, published in the journal Current Biology, highlights the urgent need to protect the world's tallest mammal, researchers have said.

Geneticist Professor Axel Janke, from Goethe University in Germany, said: "We were extremely surprised, because the morphological and coat pattern differences between giraffe are limited."

Prof Janke and his team looked at DNA taken from skin samples from 190 giraffes from across Africa.

Analysis showed there were four highly distinct groups of giraffe, which apparently do not mate with each other in the wild.

The scientists categorised four species of the animal: the southern giraffe (Giraffa giraffa), the Masai giraffe (Giraffa tippelskirchi), the reticulated giraffe (Giraffa reticulata), and the northern giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis).

Giraffes are in dramatic decline across their range in Africa. with numbers have dropping from more than 150,000 individuals to fewer than 100,000 in the past three decades.

Yet relatively little research has been done on giraffes, compared with other large animals such as elephants, rhinoceroses, gorillas and lions, say the researchers.

The northern giraffe includes the elusive sub-species, the Nubian giraffe, which lives in Ethiopia and South Sudan. </s> There are four species of giraffe, not one: scientists

There are actually four species of giraffe, not one as previously believed, researchers said Thursday in a discovery that could change conservation efforts for the world's tallest mammal.

The study in the journal Current Biology is based on DNA evidence from skin biopsies of 190 giraffes across Africa.

Giraffe populations have dropped dramatically in Africa over the past few decades, going from about 150,000 to less than 100,000.

But giraffes have been little studied, compared to other large animals like elephants, rhinoceroses, gorillas and lions.

Until now, researchers believed there was one species of giraffe, and as many as nine subspecies.

The latest data shows there are four distinct species of giraffe which apparently do not mate with each other in the wild.

"Those four species include (the) southern giraffe (Giraffa giraffa), Masai giraffe (G. tippelskirchi), reticulated giraffe (G. reticulata), and northern giraffe (G. camelopardalis), which includes the Nubian giraffe (G. c. camelopardalis) as a distinct subspecies," said the study.

It also said the genetic differences among giraffe species "are at least as great as those between polar and brown bears."

"We were extremely surprised, because the morphological and coat pattern differences between giraffe are limited," says Axel Janke, a geneticist at the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre and Goethe University in Germany.

"Consequently, giraffes should be recognized as four distinct species despite their similar appearance."

Now, researchers say some giraffes could be considered for listing as a vulnerable or endangered species on the Red List maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

For example, the northern giraffe numbers less than 4,750 individuals in the wild. There are fewer than 8,700 reticulated giraffes, making each species among the most endangered large mammals in the world, the research team said. </s> Low population levels of two of them — the northern giraffe and reticulated giraffe — make them some of the world's most endangered large mammals.

Genetic research on the world’s tallest land animal has found that there are four distinct species of giraffe, not just one as long believed, with two of them at alarmingly low population levels.

Scientists on Thursday unveiled a comprehensive genetic analysis of giraffes using DNA from 190 of the towering herbivores from across their range in Africa.

The genetic data showed that four separate species of giraffes that do not interbreed in the wild inhabit various parts of the continent.

“We were extremely surprised,” said conservationist Julian Fennessy, co-director of the Namibia-based Giraffe Conservation Foundation.

Beyond genetics, the researchers identified differences among the four species including body shape, coloration and coat patterns.

Genetic differences among the four species were comparable to those between polar bears and brown bears, said geneticist Axel Janke of the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre and Goethe University in Germany.

Until now, scientists had recognised a single species, with the scientific name Giraffa camelopardalis.

The study identified the four separate species as: the southern giraffe (Giraffa giraffa), with a population of 52,000; the Masai giraffe (Giraffa tippelskirchi), with 32,500; the reticulated giraffe (Giraffa reticulata), with 8,700; and the northern giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), with 4,750.

“The conservation implications are immense and our findings will hopefully help put giraffe conservation on the map," Mr. Fennessy said.

The giraffe currently is not listed as endangered, although its population has declined dramatically over the past three decades from more than 150,000 to fewer than 100,000, the researchers said.

But the low population levels of the northern giraffe and reticulated giraffe make them some of the world's most endangered large mammals and of high conservation importance, Mr. Fennessy said.

Giraffes stand up to about 18 feet (5.5m) tall, with long necks and legs, a sloped back and two to five short knobs called ossicones atop the head. They have a tan, white or yellowish coat blotched with brownish patches.

They roam the savannas of central, eastern and southern Africa, as far north as Chad, south to South Africa, east to Somalia and west to Niger.

Mr. Fennessy said the biggest threats to the giraffe include habitat destruction due to human population growth as well as poaching for bush meat, their tail hair and “medicinal” parts.

Their closest relative is the long-necked African mammal called the okapi.

The research was published in the journal Current Biology. </s> Image copyright Emery Smith Image caption The genome study uncovers possible reasons for the skeleton's unusual features

Tests on a six-inch-long mummified skeleton from Chile confirm that it represents the remains of a newborn with multiple mutations in key genes.

Despite being the size of a foetus, initial tests had suggested the bones were of a child aged six to eight.

These highly unusual features prompted wild speculation about its origin.

Now, DNA testing indicates that the estimated age of the bones and other anomalies may have been a result of the genetic mutations.

Details of the work have been published in the journal Genome Research.

In addition to its exceptionally small height, the skeleton had several unusual physical features, such as fewer than expected ribs and a cone-shaped head.

The remains were initially discovered in a pouch in the abandoned nitrate mining town of La Noria. From there, they found their way into a private collection in Spain.

Some wondered whether the remains, dubbed Ata after the Atacama region where they were discovered, could in fact be the remains of a non-human primate. A documentary, called Sirius, even suggested it could be evidence of alien visitations.

Genetic investigation

The new research puts those ideas to rest.

A scientific team analysed the individual's genome - the genetic blueprint for a human, contained in the nucleus of cells.

They had already used this to confirm that the individual was human. Now, the team has presented evidence that Ata was a female newborn with multiple mutations in genes associated with dwarfism, scoliosis and abnormalities in the muscles and skeleton.

"What was striking and caused us to speculate early on that there was something strange about the bones was the apparent maturity of the bones (density and shape)," said Garry Nolan, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California.

He told BBC News: "There was proportionate maturation of the bones, making the body look more mature despite the fact that the specimen was itself small. This discrepancy drove much of the research. So, we believe that one or more of the mutated genes was responsible for this."

The results revealed four new single nucleotide variants (SNVs) - a type of genetic mutation - in genes that were known to cause bone diseases, like scoliosis or dislocations, as well as two more SNVs in genes involved in producing collagen.

Ata also had 10 pairs of ribs, rather than 12 - a feature that has never been seen in humans before.

"We actually believe the girl was stillborn or died immediately after birth," said Prof Nolan.

"She was so badly malformed as to be unable to feed. In her condition, she would have ended up in the neonatal ICU."

However, access to advanced medical care was probably unavailable in the remote Chilean region where she was found. The skeleton's intact condition suggests it may be no more than 40 years old.

Future benefit

Prof Nolan began the scientific investigation of Ata in 2012, when a friend called saying he might have found an "alien".

He explained: "While this started as a story about aliens, and went international - it's really a story of a human tragedy. A woman had a malformed baby, it was preserved in a manner and then "hocked", or sold."

The scientists said that future studies of Ata had the potential to improve our understanding of the underlying basis of genetic skeletal disorders - with the potential to help others.

"Analysing a puzzling sample like the Ata genome can teach us how to handle current medical samples, which may be driven by multiple mutations," said Atul Butte, director of the Institute for Computational Health Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco.

"When we study the genomes of patients with unusual syndromes, there may be more than one gene or pathway involved genetically, which is not always considered."

Prof Nolan says further research into Ata's precocious bone aging could one day benefit patients. "Maybe there's a way to accelerate bone growth in people who need it, people who have bad breaks," he said. "Nothing like this had been seen before. Certainly, nobody had looked into the genetics of it."

He added: "I think it should be returned to the country of origin and buried according to the customs of the local people."

Follow Paul on Twitter. </s> A mysterious humanoid skeleton discovered more than a decade ago in the Atacama Desert of Chile belonged to an infant human female, scientists say.

Nicknamed Ata, the six-inch long skeleton featured an elongated skull and 10 pairs of ribs instead of the usual 12, with the unusual features attracting the interest of alien and UFO enthusiasts.

However, genetic tests of the specimen conducted by scientists in California revealed beyond doubt that the skeleton belonged to a female newborn human, with its bizarre physical features the result of mutations in several genes known to govern bone development.

Dr Garry Nolan, professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University, discovered that although the girl appeared to have been stillborn – or to have died immediately after birth – her bone composition was that of a five- to eight-year-old, suggesting that she had a rare, bone-aging disorder.

"I had heard about this specimen through a friend of mine, and I managed to get a picture of it," Nolan said.

"You can't look at this specimen and not think it's interesting; it's quite dramatic. So I told my friend, 'Look, whatever it is, if it's got DNA, I can do the analysis.'"

Genetic analysis of the specimen, which is estimated to be around 40 years old, revealed that Ata had several mutations in at least seven genes that control bone development.

The skeleton's features were consistent with a condition known as dwarfism, which involves various bone deformities and facial malformations.

Scientists were unable to match up two percent of Ata's DNA with human DNA, although this was due to the sample being degraded and not extraterrestrial biology.

"For me, what really came of this study was the idea that we shouldn't stop investigating when we find one gene that might explain a symptom," Nolan said.

"It could be multiple things going wrong, and it's worth getting a full explanation, especially as we head closer and closer to gene therapy.

"We could presumably one day fix some of these disorders, and we're going to want to make sure that if there's one mutation, we know that – but if there's more than one, we know that too."

Nolan's findings have been published in the journal Genome Research. </s> The origins of a 6-inch skeleton that was once thought to be the remains of an alien have been uncovered by scientists.

A new DNA study of the bones shows the remains are in fact human and belonged to a young girl aged around six to eight years old who had dwarfism.

Nicknamed 'Ata', the incredible find made in 2003 in Atacama, Chile, has a long cone like skull and just ten ribs.

Found in a leather pouch in an abandoned church, the skeleton was nicknamed 'Ata'.

The skeleton found its way to a collector in Spain who speculated that it was an extra-terrestrial – judging from its bizarre appeareance – and it appeared in a documentary, Sirus, which suggested it was evidence of alien life.

After five years of deep genomic analysis scientists have pinpointed the mutations responsible for the anomalous specimen.

Genetic tests at the University of California, San Francisco and Stanford University have proven beyond contention that the bones were that of a human female that died 40 years ago.

The researchers found mutations in not one but several genes known to govern bone development, some of which have never been described before.

DNA analysis reveals that her appearance can be explained by a series of genetic mutations that are linked to dwarfism and other bone and growth disorders.

The girl appears to have been aged between six and eight years old when she died.

It is not known whether the skeleton reached eight years – or whether Ata had a genetic mutation that made her bones grow in an accelerated way in the womb.

The skeleton is most likely from a premature baby, or from one soon after birth.

Sanchita Bhattacharya, a researcher at UCSF said she found 64 gene variants in 'Ata's DNA that seemed likely to be damaging.

She found that, incredibly, 10 of the variations were linked to do with skeletal problems including 'short stature' and '11 pairs of ribs'.

Other gene variations include problems with producing collagen – used in cartilage – and genes linked to scoliosis – curvature of the spine.

Garry Nolan, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the Stanford University School of Medicine began the scientific exploration of Ata in 2012, when a friend called saying he might have found an 'alien.'

Dr Nolan said that research on Ata may one day benefit patients.

He said: 'Maybe there's a way to accelerate bone growth in people who need it, people who have bad breaks,' he said.

'Nothing like this had been seen before. Certainly, nobody had looked into the genetics of it.'

Now Dr Nolan said he hopes that Ata will be given a proper burial.

He said her genes are similar to those of Chilean Chilote Indians, and that the remains suggest she lived no more than 40 years ago.

He said that hopes little Ata will be given a proper burial. 'We now know that it's a child, and probably either a pre- or post-term birth and death.

'I think it should be returned to the country of origin and buried according to the customs of the local people.'

The researchers speculate that the skeleton's deformities and the fact it was found near an abandoned nitrate mine in Chile, may have resulted from DNA damage caused by exposure to nitrates. The skeleton is owned by a Spanish businessman based in Barcelona. </s> (CN) – A 6-inch mummified humanoid skeleton found in Chile in 2003 and determined to have died at age 6 to 8 has provoked speculation as to its origin. After whole genome sequencing of the skeleton, researchers offer insights into its ancestry and unusual physical characteristics.

The findings, published Thursday in the journal Genome Research, reveal that the specimen’s miniature stature and multiple skeletal irregularities – including its cone-shaped skull – could stem from a relatively short list of mutations in genes associated with diseases like scoliosis, dwarfism and musculoskeletal abnormalities.

“This was an unusual specimen with some fairly extraordinary claims put forward,” said senior author Garry Nolan, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University. “It would be an example of how to use modern science to answer the question, ‘What is it?’”

The team used DNA extracted from the specimen’s bone marrow to conduct a whole-genome sequence analysis.

Sequencing reads matched human and non-human primate reference genomes, including rhesus macaque and chimpanzee, which showed that the specimen, known as Ata, was of human origin. Ata’s Chilean ancestry was determined by comparing single-nucleotide polymorphisms against a database of known SNPs from a diverse range of geographical populations. The sequence read also revealed that the specimen was female.

The researchers then searched for genetic clues that could explain Ata’s exceptionally small stature, abnormal rib count, premature bone age and bone and skull abnormalities. This revealed the specimen’s “dramatic phenotype could in fact be explained with a relatively short list of mutations in genes known previously to be associated with bone development,” according to Nolan.

Future research using deeper sequencing and analyses of the novel sequence variations discovered in Ata may enhance our understanding of the functional basis of genetic skeletal disorders.

“This is a great example of how studying ancient samples can teach us how to analyze modern-day medical samples,” said co-author Atul Butte, director of the Institute for Computational Health Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

The research was funded by Stanford, Stanford’s School of Medicine, UCSF, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Roche Sequencing Solutions, and Ultra Intelligence Corporation.

Researchers believe Ata died about 40 years ago. Nolan told National Geographic that while no one knows anything about her parents, someone cared for her when she died: she was carefully laid out and wrapped in a leather pouch. </s> A replica skull of a species belonging to the human family tree whose remnants were first discovered in a South African cave in 2013. (AAP)

Researchers have long believed humans split from apes some five million years ago in Africa, but a study suggests it happened in Europe far earlier than that.

Just where the last common ancestor between chimps - our closest relatives - and humans existed is a matter of hot debate in the scientific community.

The new hypothesis, released on Monday, says the origin of mankind is based on 7.2 million-year-old pre-human remains found in caves in Greece and Bulgaria.

Researchers from France, Germany, Bulgaria, Greece, Canada and Australia analyzed the dental roots of two known specimens of the fossil hominid Graecopithecus freybergi.

Using a specialized X-ray known as computer tomography to scan a lower jaw from Greece and an upper premolar from Bulgaria, they found characteristics suggesting these ape like creatures - nicknamed "El Graeco" - were likely pre-humans, or hominids.

"We were surprised by our results, as pre-humans were previously known only from sub-Saharan Africa," said co-author Jochen Fuss, a researcher at the University of Tubingen.

The findings also showed Graecopithecus is far older than the oldest known potential pre-human from Africa -- Sahelanthropus from Chad, which is six or seven million years old.

The fossil in Greece was dated to 7.24 million years, while the Bulgarian one was 7.175 million years old, said the report in the journal PLOS ONE.

"This dating allows us to move the human-chimpanzee split into the Mediterranean area," said co-author David Begun, a University of Toronto paleoanthropologist.

Environmental changes may have helped drive the evolution of pre-human species, separate from apes, said co-author Madelaine Bohme, a professor of human evolution at the University of Tubingen.

"The incipient formation of a desert in North Africa more than seven million years ago and the spread of savannahs in Southern Europe may have played a central role in the splitting of the human and chimpanzee lineages," said Bohme.

The two fossils were found in sediment that contained red-colored silts "and could be classified as desert dust," said the report.

"These data document for the first time a spreading Sahara 7.2 million years ago, whose desert storms transported red, salty dusts to the north coast of the Mediterranean Sea in its then form," it said.

Severe droughts and wildfires may have forced apes to seek out new food sources, and begin walking upright more often.
Genetic tests show that the genus giraffa, previously thought to contain one extant species, actually consists of four.