It doesn’t matter how old you are and how many wonderful things you have seen so far, one thing is certain: nature never cease to amaze! And this rare footage is definitely one of the Mother’s Nature most fascinating things. One of a kind brown baby zebra!
The extremely unusual animal was first spotted by Antony Tira, a safari guide, on September, 15 in the Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. Since he was the first one who spotted the rare animal, the guide even called the foal Tira, after his surname. Brown and with dot markings, the baby zebra even has a shorter, hairless tail, unlikely a normal zebra.
According to the wildlife experts, the rare baby zebra has a condition called melanism. Unlikely the albinism, who’s a lack of skin pigmentation, the melanism occurs because of the skin’s black pigmentation. Although the baby zebra is a sight to be hold for all of us, its extremely rare condition is about to affect its life, as in situations like this the herd tend to exclude the different looking individuals.
While this is the first ever recorded case of such an occurrence in the Masai Mara, years ago a similar case was in 2012, when a wildlife photographer spotted a zebra with some enlarge spots on its back. The animal survived less than six months.
“Last night a Maasai guide discovered a one of a kind […] baby zebra in the Maasai Mara and named it after his surname – Tira. This morning we were one of the first ones to visit Tira!,” wildlife photographer Frank Liu wrote in a Facebook post. “A few years ago there was a similar case, however that zebra still maintained the stripes and brush-like tail. Tira, however, has patterns that appear as polka dots! I hope the experts will look into this case and share some interesting discoveries soon!”
However, the brownie zebra isn’t the first rare animal spotted in the African savanna. Last year, two white giraffes have been spotted in the Ishaqbini Hirola Conservancy, Kenya’s Garissa county. While an albino baby elephant was captured on camera in Kruger National Park in South Africa.
