Where have all the spots gone? Some scientists say that this is a genetic anomaly while some others believe that technically these are not spotless animals, instead it’s “one-spot-all-over the giraffe.”
The unprecedented sighting occurred at Mount Etjo Safari Lodge, a private game reserve in central Namibia. Tour guide Eckart Demasius saw and photographed the solid-brown calf during a game drive on the roughly 90,000-acre reserve.
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Earlier this summer another spotless giraffe was born at the Brights Zoo in Limestone, Tennessee. It has been named Kipekee, which means “unique” in Swahili.
Before these recent births, a giraffe with all-brown coloring was last seen at a Tokyo zoo in 1972.
Some aspects of giraffe spots are passed down from mother to calf, according to a 2018 study in the journal PeerJ, and larger, rounder spots appear to be linked to higher survival rates for younger giraffes, but the reasons for that remain unclear.