Giraffes are being driven to extinction by big game glory hunters on Facebook and civil unrest in Africa
There were fewer than 97,625 alive in 2015, down from up to 163,000 in 1985
BIG game gun nuts who post their 'trophy' photos on social media are helping to hunt the giraffe to extinction.
There were fewer than 97,625 alive in 2015, down from up to 163,000 in 1985, due to habitat loss, hunting and civil unrest in Africa, a new report reveals.
It has led to them being classed as 'vulnerable to extinction' on the latest Red List of Threatened Species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Last year, Sabrina Corgatelli, from Boise, Idaho, made headlines around the world when she taunted animal lovers on Facebook by posting glamorous photos of herself in full make-up with painted nails alongside the dead carcass of a giraffe she gunned down.
She wrote: " I got an amazing old Giraffe. Such as amazing animal!! I couldn't be any happier!! My emotion after getting him was a feeling I will never forget."
Images of her proudly posing with wild animals she had slaughtered on an African safari went viral.
The assessment also revealed a worsening situation for African grey parrots, regularly kept as pets and with the ability to mimic human speech, which are now classed as endangered because of unsustainable trapping for trade and habitat loss.
And of 700 newly recognised bird species assessed, over one in ten is at risk of dying out.
IUCN director general Inger Anderson said: "Many species are slipping away before we can even describe them.
"This IUCN Red List update shows that the scale of the global extinction crisis may be even greater than we thought."
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She urged governments to step up their efforts to protect the planet's wildlife.
There are now 85,604 species assessed for the Red List, of which more than a quarter - 24,307 - are threatened with extinction.
The latest Red List also includes the reassessment of all bird species, including 742 newly recognised birds.
11% of them are under threat, including the Antioquia wren which is endangered as a single dam project could wipe out half its habitat.
Wild oats, barley, mango and other wild relatives of crops that humans rely on have been assessed for the first time for the Red List. The species are increasingly important to food security, as they could provide new varieties that are more resilient to extreme conditions such as drought.
The assessment listed four mango species as endangered and the Kalimantan mango was classed as extinct in the wild.
A wild relative of the chickpea that is native to Iran and Turkey has been listed as endangered due to the conversion of its habitat for agriculture.
A Japanese relative of asparagus, hamatamabouki, is also listed as endangered due to habitat loss, while the anomalus sunflower is classed as vulnerable.