Giraffes are the tallest mammals in the world, reaching a height of over 18 feet. This stunning giraffe hasn’t been photoshopped, it’s real! The 15-month-old beauty, whose skin seems whitened, suffers from ʟᴇᴜ.ᴄɪsᴍ. It is a condition that results in a partial loss of pigmentation.
One guide named the giraffe Oмo after a popular local detergent brand.
Experts at the Wild Nature Institute first detected Oмo last year.
“We were lucky enough to see her again in January, almost exactly a year later,” the Institute explained in its blog post. “We are delighted that she is still safe and healthy.”
It was spotted in Tarangire National Park in Tanzania by Dr. Derek Lee, founder and scientist of the Wild Nature Institute.
“Because she seems to get along well with the other giraffes, she has always been seen with a large group of normally colored giraffes; They don’t seem to care about their different color,” he explained. “We and our partners are working on giraffe conservation and anti-ᴘᴏᴀᴄʜɪɴɢ to help give Oмo and her family a greater chance to survive. We hope that she has a long life and that one day she will have lives of her own.”
The African Wildlife Foundation estimates that the species has lost 40 percent of its population in just 30 years, and recent reports show that animal and wildlife trafficking is contributing to this decline.
There are more than 68,000 giraffes in the world, according to the foundation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies the species as ʋulneraƄle.