It is not as if they are subtle in appearance or too small to notice. Giraffes, however, are having a tough time with two tasks: maintaining their numbers and garnering the attention of wildlife advocates. As a result, giraffe populations in Africa are quietly slipping into oblivion in what one expert calls a “silent extinction.”

Julian Fennessy of Giraffe Conservation Research in Nambia says that the upcoming giraffe population assessments due in early 2015 will reveal a 40 percent reduction in population over the last 15 years. There were approximately 140,000 of the long-necked spotted creatures at the beginning of the 21st century, but now only about 80,000 are around today.

Giraffes reside primarily on private and communal lands and national parks in 21 African nations. Of nine subspecies, 2 are on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of endangered species. Experts cite loss of habitat as the primary determinant in declining giraffe numbers as the animals are driven out by agricultural expansion.

Hunting and poaching also contributes to shrinking numbers. Both activities are on the rise in Tanzania and a few other countries where inaccurate belief that eating giraffe meat is a certain cure for HIV/AIDS prevails.

Ironically, it is the high visibility and prevalence of giraffes in zoos and print media that accounts for the mysterious lack in concern about their numbers in the wild. A false impression that giraffes are doing just fine is reinforced by images of the beasts everywhere and their nearly guaranteed presence at most zoos. Conservationists hope to harness this visibility with the message that rampant commercialization is destroying these majestic creatures and that they need immediate international attention.

The news is not all bad, fortunately. In Niger, the West African giraffe population has actually increased to roughly 400, marking a dramatic rebound from just 50 two decades ago.