Daily Skimm

Nope, you’re not seeing things — that really is a spotless giraffe. ICYMI, on July 31, Brights Zoo in Limestone, TN, welcomed the 6-foot-tall, all-brown giraffe, who is believed to be extremely rare. So rare that only three have ever been spotted, apparently. Wild, right? To learn more, we spoke with the zoo’s director, David Bright…

Q: How quickly after the giraffe’s arrival did you realize she was spotless? Was there a chance spots might develop later on?

It was immediate ... Spots develop in the [womb], so it’s permanent ... What we didn’t know immediately was how rare it was. We started calling zoo professionals all over the world, asking them, ‘Hey, have you ever seen this? Have you ever heard of this?’ When we learned that nobody had, we knew we needed to research it closely. That’s when we found out that 1972 was the last time it ever happened … [My] first thought was total shock, but in a good way.

Q: What does an average day look like for the giraffe?

If the weather is good, she typically comes outside with her mom and sibling around 8 am. We watch the temperatures closely, and once it gets pretty warm, she comes back in. [Recently] that’s been anywhere between 1 pm and 4 pm … Otherwise, she’s mostly napping and nursing. Giraffes have odd sleep schedules: Adults only sleep for about 15 minutes at a time, and they do that standing up. Young giraffes, though, sleep more and will lay down to do so. Between naps and nursing, she is up and down throughout the night.

Q: If you had to create a dating profile for the giraffe, what would it say?

Unique is the first word to describe her — since no one really knows why she has this color and no pattern … She’s [also] very laid back. She’s not overly excited about things … [Though] one of the gates has some movement to it, and we’ve noticed she likes to rub and push on it, so she can hear the gate and chains clanking. She plays in that area quite a bit. And now she’s interacting with her sibling more ... They’ll run around each other, lick each other, and nudge each other.

Q: Have there been any signs that her sibling — or the other giraffes — know she’s different? Does she realize she’s different?

Not at all ... She was immediately accepted by the entire giraffe tower ... They treat her just as any other giraffe.

Q: The zoo recently asked the public to vote for one of four shortlisted names: Kipekee, Firyali, Shakiri, and Jamella. Is there one you’re secretly rooting for? 

I don’t have a favorite. From the day she arrived, we started researching Swahili names, which is what we use for all the giraffes born here … [In total] we probably looked at thousands of names across multiple sites, and from that, we [picked] the final four.

Q: Both the media and the public have been taken by the newborn. Were you at all surprised by that?

We’ve been surprised by how many new faces we’re seeing. [Earlier this week] we had a family visit from Gatlinburg, TN, which is an hour or two from here. But we’ve also had people come from as far as England.