Just weeks after a Tennessee zoo welcomed a rare spotless giraffe, another one has been photographed in the wild of Namibia, Africa. The spotless giraffe was seen at Mount Etjo Safari Lodge in central Namibia and photographed with its parent.
The Giraffe Conservation Foundation announced in a news release Monday that the solid-brown spotless Angolan giraffe was seen by Tour guide Eckart Demasius during a game drive on the roughly 90,000-acre reserve.
The first spotless giraffe at Brights Zoo was eventually named Kipepee, which means “unique” in Swahili.
Reticulated Giraffes are commonly found in northern and northeastern Kenya as well as parts of Somalia and Ethiopia. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, about 16,000 reticulated giraffes exist in the wild. With their population decreasing by about 50% over the last three decades, they have been listed as “endangered.”
However, the population of Angolan giraffes (like the breed seen in Namibia) has increased over the last three decades.
Nonetheless, the foundation says that only 117,000 giraffes are left on the African continent. This means for every four elephants, there is just one giraffe in Africa.
According to Dr. Julian Fennessy, co-founder, and director of conservation at the foundation, the spotlessness seen in the baby Angolan giraffe was likely caused by genetic mutations or a recessive genotype that creates their typical patterns.
“Maybe we do not always need to have explanations for everything. Why don’t we simply marvel, about the wonders of nature,” said Stephanie Fennessy, the foundation’s director and cofounder, in the news release. “Giraffes are in trouble and if we don’t act now, our grandchildren might not be able to see any giraffes in the wild when they grow up. That is what really worries me!”
