Rare giraffe without spots born at US zoo

A baby giraffe without spots was born at a zoo in the southern US state of Tennessee, the zoo owners announced Tuesday.

Director of the zoo, David Bright, said the female is "a beautiful solid brown," without any of the hoofed mammal's distinctive patterns which help to camouflage it.

According to Bright, it's the first known giraffe born without any spots since on that was born in 1972 in Japan.

There are two other known examples of giraffes without patches before that.

The female reticulated giraffe was born on July 31 at the family-owned Brights Zoo in Limestone, a small town in northeastern Tennessee.

The giraffe is "thriving under the care of her attentive mother and the zoo's expert staff," Bright added.

Zoo owners take unusual step

Bright said the zoo took the unusual step of posting about the giraffe on its Facebook page to raise awareness about conservation efforts.

"We generally do not post any babies in the zoo but with this being such a unique situation, we knew that it would bring a lot of attention to giraffes," Bright said, adding that the message would help highlight conservation efforts.

Animals in the wild are steadily declining. The zoo's founder, Tony Bright, pointed out that a significant number of the wild giraffe population had been wiped out over the last three decades.

According to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, there were about 155,000 giraffes in Africa in the 1980s, compared to about 117,000 today.

The zoo has asked the public to pick a name for the giraffe and to consider donations to conversation efforts so future generations have the opportunity to see the animals too.

rm/jsi (AFP, AP)