Giraffe Conservation Foundation, Eros, PO Box 86099, Windhoek, Namibia.
Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, Conservation Ecology Center, 1500 Remount Rd, Front Royal, VA, 22630, USA.
BMC Res Notes. 2020 Dec 30;13(1):569. doi: 10.1186/s13104-020-05403-9.
Skeletal 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.
These 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.
骨骼发育不良是一种软骨或骨骼疾病，有时会导致骨骼发育异常，在野生动物中很少见。在这里，我们使用摄影测量学和比较形态计量学分析来描述在两个地理上不同分类群的野生长颈鹿的四肢骨骼比例异常的病例：乌干达默奇森瀑布国家公园的努比亚长颈鹿（Giraffa camelopardalis camelopardalis）和纳米比亚中部一个私人农场的安哥拉长颈鹿（Giraffa giraffa angolensis）。
这些长颈鹿的桡骨和掌骨相对于其他年龄相似的长颈鹿明显缩短。这两只长颈鹿都至少存活到亚成体阶段。本报告记录了这些罕见的骨骼发育不良在野生动物中的发生情况，这也是长颈鹿中的首例记录。
