Rothschild's giraffe creamier hue compared to that seen on the reticulated giraffe. In addition, Rothschild's giraffe displays no markings on the lower leg, giving it the impression of wearing white stockings. Another distinguishing feature of Rothschild's giraffe, although harder to spot, is the number of ossicones on the head. This is the only "Giraffa" phenotype to be born with five ossicones. Two of these are the larger and more obvious ones at the top of the head, which are common to all giraffes. The third ossicone can often be seen in the center of the giraffe's forehead, and the other two are
Giraffe living giraffes consist of multiple species. The researchers suggested the existence of four species, which have not exchanged genetic information between each other for 1 million to 2 million years. Those four species are the northern giraffe ("G. camelopardalis"), southern giraffe ("G. giraffa"), reticulated giraffe ("G. reticulata"), and Masai giraffe ("G. tippelskirchi"). Since then, a response to this publication has been published, highlighting seven problems in data interpretation, and concludes "the conclusions should not be accepted unconditionally". In 2016 there were an estimated 90,000 individuals of "Giraffa" in the wild. In 2010 there were more than 1,600 in captivity at