A totally unusual event in an American zoo. A monochromatic giraffe, without any of the characteristic spots of its species, was born in Brights Zoo, Tennessee. “A spotless giraffe is very rare,” said wildlife park manager David Bright. No such birth had been recorded since 1972 in Tokyo, he said.
The giraffe, an endangered species
The little animal – which still measures 1m80 –, covered with brown hair, was born on July 31. Since then, this female like no other “has flourished thanks to the care of her caring mother and the zoo’s specialized staff,” the establishment said in a press release. The spots of giraffes serve mainly as camouflage in the vegetation. This one of a kind, on the contrary, attracts the attention of the media all over the world.
The zoo hopes that the many articles dedicated to the birth of this reticulated giraffe – the name of its subspecies – will help draw attention to the threats to its species. “Wild populations are silently plunging towards extinction, with 40% of the wild giraffe population lost in three decades,” Tony Bright, founder of Brights Zoo, warned in the statement.