By: Jackson Way

On July 31, a privately owned zoo in Tennessee witnessed an extraordinary event. A giraffe entered the world with no spots. Displaying an unprecedented absence of the customary spots, this female calf, a remarkable specimen, stands as an unparalleled occurrence in the global context, marked by an entirely uniform brown hue.

The giraffe is a girl, and she’s all brown, not like the usual giraffes with spots. She’s already six feet tall, and the vet people at the zoo say she’s healthy and all good. The zoo director, David Bright, says she’s curious about stuff and sticks close to her mom. She’s got a positive attitude, you know, for a giraffe.

The giraffe expert, Fred Bercovitch, who’s been studying giraffes for ages. He thinks this brown giraffe is so rare because of some special change in its genes. He said before this, there were some white giraffes with no spots, but even those are super rare. The last time they saw a brown giraffe like this was in Japan way back in 1972. 

There’s this giraffe conservation foundation, and they’re all surprised too. They never saw a giraffe like this in Africa, where giraffes come from. Bercovitch says this shows that we still don’t know everything about animals, and that’s cool. 

People are thinking maybe other giraffes might find this brown one a bit weird, but they won’t be mean to it. Giraffes are social animals, and they’re not about hating on someone just ’cause they look different. 

The people at the zoo want people to care about giraffes more and help with conservation. They’re suggesting names for this unique giraffe, like Kipekee, Firyali, Jamella, and Shakira. They want people to vote on the best name. Hence, this brown giraffe prompts a more profound reflection concerning animal welfare and conservation which is great.