This announcement was made on Thursday, December 8, 2016.

According to the organisation, the population of the world's tallest animal has reduced to close to 40 percent in thirty years.

Julian Fennessy, the co-chair of the IUCN SSC Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group said, "These majestic animals are undergoing a silent extinction."

According to the IUCN, this is all down to illegal hunting, agricultural and mining operations.

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"Illegal hunting, habitat loss and changes through expanding agriculture and mining, increasing human-wildlife conflict, and civil unrest are all pushing the species towards extinction."

ABC News puts the reduction in the number of Giraffes to 97,562 in 2015 from between 151,000 and 163,000 in 1985.