Meet Omo, the latest addition to our small, but extraordinary collection of leucistic animals. Omo is a young giraffe living in Tarangire National Park in Tanzania. She was first spotted last year as a calf by Dr. Derek Lee, scientist and founder of the Wild Nature Institute, which is currently conducting an extensive survey of all the giraffes in the park. Individual giraffes are identified by their unique spot patterns, but Omo’s ghostly pale coat, caused by a lack of cellular pigmentation, immediately caught the scientist’s attention.
“Omo appears to get along with the other giraffes, she has always been seen with a large group of normally coloured giraffe – they don’t seem to mind her different colouring.”
Her exceedingly rare coloring makes her a more likely target for poachers and natural predators, so Dr. Lee was very pleased to report that Omo has been sighted alive and well one year after her initial discovery.
“We and our partners are working on giraffe conservation and anti-poaching to help give Omo and her relatives a better chance of survival. We hope that she lives a long life and that some day she has calves of her own.”
[via My Modern Metropolis]
