There鈥檚 a brand new spotless superstar on the scene at a Tennessee zoo.
She doesn鈥檛 have a name yet, but she鈥檚 already made a big splash among her herd 鈥� she鈥檚 a giraffe without patches.
The 6-foot wonder was born sans spots on July 31 at Bright鈥檚 Zoo, a privately owned facility in Limestone, and made her public debut this month. The calf is a reticulated giraffe, one of four giraffe species.
The zoo said she might be the 鈥渙nly solid-coloured reticulated giraffe living anywhere on the planet.鈥� (The last spotless giraffe in captivity was likely a calf born at Tokyo鈥檚 Ueno Zoo in 1972, CBS News reported.)
The word 鈥渞eticulated鈥� refers to the giraffe鈥檚 network of polygonal brown spots, broken up by veins of creamy off-white, according to the Denver Zoo. The spots function primarily as camouflage in the savannahs of northern Kenya where they live and graze.
And underneath each spot is a 鈥渟ophisticated system of blood vessels,鈥� according to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on sustaining and growing the wild giraffe population across Africa. It takes a large network of vessels and 25-pound hearts to keep the world鈥檚 tallest land mammal on its hooves.
Zoo founder Tony Bright said that the weeks-old calf is casting a 鈥渕uch-needed spotlight鈥� on giraffe conservation. Around 16,000 reticulated giraffes remain in the wild, according to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, a 50 per cent decline in the last three-and-a-half decades from when there were around 36,000 wild reticulated giraffes living on the continent.
The new calf joins a growing herd at Bright鈥檚, following another baby giraffe that was born just weeks before. The zoo says she鈥檚 鈥渢hriving鈥� under the supervision of her attentive mother and its human staff. Now she just needs a name, which fans can vote on before the winning moniker is announced on Labour Day.
Among the four choices are Kipekee, which means 鈥渦nique鈥� in Swahili 鈥� a fitting name for an exceedingly rare baby.
