Rare White Giraffes Remind Us How Amazing Our World Can Be

Our world is indeed a special place, but every once in awhile it is nice to have a reminder of just how beautiful it can be. One of those reminders came earlier in the week when a pair of white giraffes were spotted in Kenya. It was there, that visitors to the Hirola Conservation Area were caught completely off guard when they came across a mother and calf, both of which were completely white. Fortunately, they were able to capture some video footage to share with the rest of us.

But, the creatures don’t suffer from albinism as some suspected. Instead, they have a very rare genetic condition called leucism. This trait doesn’t allow an animal to create pigmentation in its skin cells, while other organs can continue to form naturally. Albino animals usually have pink eyes, but these giraffes – and other creatures with leucism – have natural looking eyes instead.

Fortunately, this trait doesn’t have any lasting impact on their ability to survive in the wild, and in this case the mother obviously passed on the rare genetic defect to the calf. But, as you’ll see in the video below, it gives them a unique quality that is simply magical. Something tells me that the Hirola Conservation Area is about to get a lot more visitors.

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Kraig Becker

Kraig is an outdoor and adventure travel writer based in Nashville, TN. Over the course of his career, he has contributed to numerous online and print outlets, including Popular Mechanics, Gear Junkie, Outside Online, National Geographic, Digital Trends, Business Insider, TripSavvy, about.com, and of course The Adventure Blog.