Rare spotless giraffe沒有斑點的長頸鹿

劉志獻

There's a brandnew spotless superstaron the scene at aTennessee zoo. Shehas already made abig splash among herherd. The 6?foot wonderwas born without spots on July 31 atBright's Zoo， a privately owned facility inLimestone， and made her public debut （首次亮相） in August. The calf is a reticulatedgiraffe， one of four giraffe species.The zoo said she might be the only solidcoloredreticulated giraffe living anywhereon the planet.

The word “reticulated” refers to thegiraffe's network of polygonal （多邊形的）brown spots， broken up by veins （紋理） ofcreamy off?white， according to the DenverZoo. The spots function primarily as disguisein the savannas of northern Kenyawhere they live.

And underneath each spot is a“ complexsystem of blood vessels”， according tothe Giraffe Conservation Foundation， a?nonprofit that focuses on sustaining andgrowing the wild giraffe population acrossAfrica. It takes a large network of vesselsand a 25?pound heart to keep the world'stallest land mammal standing.

Zoo founder Tony Bright said that theweeks?old calf is casting a“ much?neededspotlight” on giraffe conservation. Around16，000 reticulated giraffes remain in thewild， according to the Giraffe ConservationFoundation， a 50% decline in the lastthree?and?a?half decades from when therewere around 36，000 wild reticulated giraffesliving on the continent.

The new calf joins a growing herd atBright's， following another baby giraffe thatwas born just weeks before. The zoo saysshe is growing under the supervision of herattentive mother and her human staff.

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What is unique about the newly born giraffe at Bright's Zoo in Tennessee？

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