First wild spotless giraffe found in Namibia, conservation group says
A spotless giraffe was discovered in the wild for the first time at a reserve in central Namibia, the Giraffe Conservation Fund (GCF) said. (Credit: Eckart Demasius & Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) via Storyful)
A spotless giraffe born at a Tennessee zoo made headlines because many thought it was the world’s first. But now it has company after another spotless giraffe was found walking in the wild at a reserve in Africa.
The Giraffe Conservation Fund (GCF) said Monday in a release that the Angolan giraffe was discovered at the Mount Etjo Safari Lodge in Namibia.
Eckart Demasius captured photos of the giraffe, which were shared with the social news platform Storyful.
A spotless giraffe was discovered in the wild for the first time at a reserve in central Namibia, the Giraffe Conservation Fund (GCF) said. (Credit: Eckart Demasius & Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) via Storyful)
The discovery in Namibia represents the first spotless giraffe seen in the wild, the GCF shared.
RELATED: Watch: Rare spotless baby giraffe believed to be only 1 in the world
A spotless giraffe was discovered in the wild for the first time at a reserve in central Namibia, the Giraffe Conservation Fund (GCF) said. (Credit: Eckart Demasius & Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) via Storyful)
According to a GCF release, a giraffe without spots is rare. Before the discovery of the Namibian spotless Angolan giraffe, there were only two records of such brown giraffes, both in zoos in Japan in 1972 and recently in the U.S. The agency noted that while it’s uncommon for color variations or changes in spot or stripe patterns to be observed in species, the cause for these color versions is often unknown.
On July 31, Bright’s Zoo in Limestone, Tennessee, welcomed a spotless giraffe to its family.
Bright Zoo invited the public to help them name the baby giraffe, which stands at 6 feet tall with a beautiful brown color.
This story was reported from Washington, D.C.