{
  "title": "Giraffes in Kenya: selected 2025 national census figures",
  "compiledBy": "The Last Giraffe",
  "compiledOn": "2026-09-10",
  "explanation": "https://thelastgiraffe.org/articles/giraffes-in-kenya/",
  "source": {
    "title": "National Wildlife Census 2025 Technical Report — Abridged Version",
    "issuingBodies": ["Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, Government of Kenya", "Wildlife Research and Training Institute", "Kenya Wildlife Service"],
    "publicationYear": 2025,
    "officialIndexUrl": "https://wrti.go.ke/?page_id=6960",
    "linkedDocumentUrl": "https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kPbMixagpw1tnWmsAzsBIoPFfvOexrLd/view?usp=drivesdk",
    "isbn": "978-9914-779-73-8",
    "censusProgrammePeriod": "June 2024–August 2025; some earlier records retained",
    "methodsLocation": "Printed pages 4–5",
    "nationalSummaryLocation": "Table 4.2, printed page 16"
  },
  "scope": "Three giraffe group entries and the national total as reported in this Kenyan publication. Not a live population count, uniformly new 2025 observations, wild-only inventory, global synthesis or underlying census dataset.",
  "taxonomy": {
    "basis": "IUCN SSC Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group four-species recognition, 21 August 2025",
    "sourceUrl": "https://iucn.org/press-release/202508/four-giraffe-species-officially-recognised-major-conservation-reclassification",
    "note": "Editorial current-name crosswalk: the three Kenyan group entries are not all at the same taxonomic level."
  },
  "groups": [
    {
      "name": "Reticulated giraffe",
      "reportLabel": "Reticulated giraffe",
      "scientificName": "Giraffa reticulata",
      "rank": "species",
      "reportedYear": 2025,
      "reportedCount": 31201,
      "sourceLocation": "Table 4.8, printed page 50",
      "qualification": "The report explicitly states that Mandera and Turkana were not resurveyed and earlier entries were retained."
    },
    {
      "name": "Masai giraffe in Kenya",
      "reportLabel": "Maasai giraffe",
      "scientificName": "Giraffa tippelskirchi tippelskirchi",
      "rank": "subspecies",
      "species": "Giraffa tippelskirchi",
      "reportedYear": 2025,
      "reportedCount": 10410,
      "sourceLocation": "Table 4.6, printed page 48",
      "qualification": "The report's comparison includes changed survey areas; raw counts are not uniformly matched-footprint demographic estimates."
    },
    {
      "name": "Nubian giraffe",
      "reportLabel": "Nubian giraffe",
      "scientificName": "Giraffa camelopardalis camelopardalis",
      "rank": "subspecies",
      "species": "Giraffa camelopardalis",
      "reportedYear": 2025,
      "reportedCount": 1388,
      "sourceLocation": "Table 4.7, printed page 49",
      "qualification": "2025 follows the nested count heading and accompanying discussion; the outer column heading conflictingly says Year 2022. The inventory includes managed facilities."
    }
  ],
  "reportedNationalTotal": 43002,
  "calculatedGroupSum": 42999,
  "reportedTotalMinusGroupSum": 3,
  "calculation": "31201 + 10410 + 1388 = 42999; 43002 - 42999 = 3. The discrepancy remains unresolved; no correction to the published total is asserted.",
  "masaiMaraReportingExample": {
    "sourceLocation": "Table 4.6, printed page 48",
    "rows": [
      { "reportingYear": 2021, "reportedAreaKm2": 30193, "reportedCount": 2109, "reportedDensityPerKm2": 0.070 },
      { "reportingYear": 2025, "reportedAreaKm2": 12507, "reportedCount": 1611, "reportedDensityPerKm2": 0.129 }
    ],
    "qualification": "Different reported areas. This comparison alone establishes neither demographic change nor habitat loss; density values retain the source's rounding."
  },
  "limitations": [
    "The census uses different survey methods, including aerial total counts and sample-based estimates; not every entry is a fresh observation in the headline year.",
    "The printed national total differs from the sum of its three printed group entries. This reporting discrepancy is not a statistical confidence interval.",
    "The conflicting Nubian table year heading is retained as an explicit source ambiguity.",
    "Do not substitute this national figure directly into an independently compiled global total or calculate a simple recovery rate without comparable scope and methods.",
    "Compilation in 2026 does not change the observation periods or make this a 2026 survey.",
    "This limited factual derivative does not reproduce the underlying census records, source maps or full report, or assert a licence over those materials."
  ]
}