Giraffe without spots born at Tennessee zoo

A plain brown reticulated giraffe was born on July 31 at the family-owned Bright’s Zoo in Limestone, Tenn. The zoo provided four potential names on their Facebook page and asked the public for help naming the baby, who is with her mother at the 103-acre zoo. The word “reticulated” refers to the giraffe’s typical pattern of brown spots interlaced with lighter veins of off-white fur. The spots function primarily as camouflage.

How rare is a spotless giraffe? Bright’s Zoo has contacted zoo professionals and giraffe experts nationwide to ask about the baby’s rarity. The zoo said she may be the only solid-colored reticulated giraffe on the planet. The last recorded spotless reticulated giraffe in captivity was born in 1972 at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo. 

Dig deeper: Listen to a report on The World and Everything in It podcast about another zoo with an unexpected animal birth.