Unusual: Tennessee zoo hosts birth of only spotless giraffe on Earth

People have usually seen giraffes that have long necks and spots on the body but there has been an unusual occurrence at Brights Zoo in Tennessee where it hosted a birth of single-coloured spotless giraffe — Reticulated giraffes — rendering it to be likely the only one on Earth.

The zoo announced that it was holding a naming contest for the giraffe and visitors are now allowed to see the baby. Later Monday it said to have narrowed down the contest to four choices: Kipekee — meaning unique; Firyali — meaning unusual or extraordinary; Shakiri — meaning "she is most beautiful"; and Jamella, — that’s for "one of great beauty."

The zoo's director David Bright told CBS News that the last recorded spotless giraffe was in 1972 in Tokyo which was born in Ueno Zoo and was named Toshiko.

Giraffe Conservation Foundation explained that reticulated giraffes are a species with brown and orange spots and are found in Africa. They have been marked as endangered species.

According to the press release issued by the zoo, it is hoped the headline-making giraffe will bring attention to the challenges the species faces in the wild.

"The international coverage of our patternless baby giraffe has created a much-needed spotlight on giraffe conservation," said Tony Bright, founder of Brights Zoo.

He said: "Wild populations are silently slipping into extinction, with 40% of the wild giraffe population lost in just the last 3 decades."

Back in 2020, at least three giraffes coloured white were found in Kenya who had leucism. This condition causes the loss of pigmentation, creating white skin.

Two of them were killed by poachers. After that, a conservation group started monitoring the remaining one with the help of a GPS tracker in order to avoid any harm to it from poachers.