Northern giraffe are considered Vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN. In 2016, around 97,000 individuals from all subspecies were present in the wild. There are currently 5,195 northern giraffes. In the current IUCN taxonomic scheme there is only one species of giraffe with the name "G. camelopardalis" and nine subspecies. Three subspecies of northern giraffes are proposed. The giraffes have two horn-like protuberances known as ossicones on their foreheads. The northern giraffe's are longer and larger than that of the southern giraffes', though male northern giraffes have a third cylindrical ossicone in the center of the head just above the eyes which
Tears of the Giraffe Twain. She mentions the "playfulness" of McCall Smith in these novels, keeping them from being heavy-handed morality tales. Per "Kirkus Reviews", the novels had their American publication later than in the UK. The first three novels appeared in 2002 in the US. In their review of the first novel in the series, "Kirkus Reviews" notes that "The first American publication of this 1999 debut has been preceded by two special Booker citations and two sequels, "Tears of the Giraffe" (2000) and "Morality for Beautiful Girls" (2001), both forthcoming in the series." Tears of the Giraffe Tears of the Giraffe is