Exploring the Effects of Giraffe Skin Disease Limb Lesions on Locomotion

Emerging skin diseases have severely impacted wildlife in recent decades, with consequences ranging from increased morbidity and mortality to local extinction and widespread biodiversity loss. Individuals that persist with various skin diseases can have sublethal consequences, including altered behavior and impaired locomotor function. Giraffe skin disease (GSD) is a condition that results in skin lesions of varying severity among different giraffe (Giraffa spp.) populations throughout Africa. Prior reports have suggested that individuals with limb lesions from GSD do not have increased mortality but rather suffer from lameness. We examined whether GSD severity and unilateral versus bilateral forelimb lesions differentially impact spatiotemporal gait kinematics and carpus joint angle kinematics of Masai giraffe (G. tippelskirchi tippelskirchi) in Ruaha National Park, Tanzania. We found that GSD lesions altered normal walking gait kinematics (i.e., decreased walking speed and increased stride duration) largely irrespective of lesion severity or number of limbs affected. Impaired movement due to GSD could negatively impact foraging efficiency, dispersal, and predator susceptibility. Given that wildlife skin diseases are predicted to become more prevalent with climate change, examinations of their sublethal effects, in addition to their effects on mortality, are required to better understand long-term ramifications.