Not like everyone else

On July 31 of this year, a unique creature was born at the Brights Zoo in the city of Limestone in the American state of Tennessee: a female giraffe of a monophonic color, without spots. Although, to be precise, most likely the entire coloring of the newborn is one big spot, because she is all brown. So far, such a case has been recorded only once in 1972 in Japan.

The vast majority of giraffes have a unique pattern of brown spots on their skins, which helps them disguise themselves and regulate heat exchange.

Of course, it is impossible to vouch for the entire population, but before this case, scientists had met only monotonous albino giraffes in the wild, brown individuals had never been seen.

In addition, the individual pattern on the skin helps giraffes to recognize relatives and form friendships. However, a baby born in a zoo will be surrounded by caretakers all his life, so the absence of spots is unlikely to cause him inconvenience. Now the young female remains under the care of her mother. She is growing fast and is already over 180 cm tall.

The name of the young giraffe was chosen by voting. Zoo staff offered a choice of several names: Kipiki (Kipekee), Firyali (Firyali), Shakiri (Shakiri) and Jamella (Jamella).

The zoo received more than 40,000 votes, and Kipika's name won by a margin of 6,000 votes. In Swahili, it means “Unique”. The name was officially given to the baby giraffe on September 5.
According to zoo staff, the appearance of Kipika will help draw attention to the problems of the entire population of giraffes, which are classified as vulnerable species.