A baby giraffe with no markings was born at the Tennessee zoo/Courtesy Brights Zoo
2023.08.23 Wed posted at 12:26 JST
(CNN) A rare reticulated giraffe baby with no markings is making headlines at a Tennessee zoo.
The baby is female and about 1.8 meters tall. She was born on July 31 at the Brights Zoo in Limestone, Tennessee, and opened to the public in August. The zoo had just given birth to another baby giraffe a few weeks earlier.
The baby may be “the only living single-colored reticulated giraffe on earth,” according to the zoo. It is believed that the baby was the last to be born.)
The giraffe’s spots help camouflage it from predators in the northern Kenyan savannah where it lives.
Giraffes have a “sophisticated vascular system” under their spots, according to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, a nonprofit that works to protect wild giraffes. Maintaining the body of the world’s tallest land mammal requires a massive vascular network and a heart that weighs more than 11 kilograms.
There are only 16,000 reticulated giraffes left in the wild, less than half of the 36,000 living there 35 years ago.
The baby giraffe is said to be growing healthily under the protection of a caring mother giraffe and her keepers, and the zoo is currently accepting votes to choose one of four names.
Of the four candidates, “Kipekhe” means “unique” in Swahili. The names chosen will be announced on September 4th.
Baby giraffe with no pattern born since Ueno Zoo
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2023-08-23 03:26:00
