The one white giraffe on the planet is supplied with GPS monitoring to maintain it protected from poachers in Kenya
The world’s only white giraffe is equipped with GPS tracking to protect her months after a white female and her calf were killed by poachers in Kenya
- The male white giraffe has a GPS tracking device on one of its horns
- He is the only white giraffe left after a female and her calf were killed by poachers in Garissa, eastern Kenya, in March
- The giraffe’s white appearance is caused by a rare genetic trait called leucism
The only known white giraffe in the world has been fitted with a GPS tracking device to protect it from poachers while grazing in Kenya.
The male white giraffe now stands alone after poachers killed a female and her calf in March, the Ishaqbini Hirola Community Conservancy said in a statement Tuesday. Despite his unique status, the lone male has no name.
A rare genetic trait called leucism causes the white color, and it makes the surviving giraffe dangerous to poachers in the arid savannah near the Somali border.
Now the GPS tracking device attached to one of the giraffe’s horns pings every hour to alert rangers of their location.
The male (pictured above) is the only known white giraffe in the world and has been fitted with a GPS tracking device to protect it from poachers. The male was given a sedative to adjust the GPS tracker.
He is the last remaining white giraffe after a female and her calf were killed in March
The reserve thanked the Kenya Wildlife Service along with the Northern Rangelands Trust and Save Giraffes Now for help.
The bodies of Kenya’s only female white giraffe and her calf were found “in a skeletal state after being killed by armed poachers in Garissa, eastern Kenya, in March,” the Ishaqbini Hirola Community Conservancy said in a statement.
The remaining male white giraffe was carried by the same slaughtered female, the conservancy said.
“The killing is a blow to the tremendous strides the community has made to conserve rare and unique species and a wake-up call for continued support for conservation efforts,” said Mohammed Ahmednoor, the sanctuary’s manager, at the time of the female giraffe deaths.
A female white giraffe and her calf were killed by poachers in Garissa, eastern Kenya, in March
“This is a long-term loss considering that genetic studies and research, which has been heavily invested in this area by researchers, has now been lost,” he said. “In addition, the white giraffe has given tourism in the region a big boost.”
Why is the giraffe white?
The female white giraffe, killed by poachers in March, attracted great interest when it was first spotted in Kenya in 2017.
The giraffe’s white appearance is caused by a rare genetic condition known as leucism, which causes skin cells to lack pigmentation.
The condition means that they continue to produce dark pigments in their soft tissues, which gives them dark eyes.
Despite their inability to produce colored pigment, giraffes with leucism do not have any genetic drawbacks for their survival, but their color can attract unwanted attention from predators.
The female white giraffe aroused great interest in 2017 when she was first spotted in the sanctuary and again when she gave birth to two calves, no later than August last year.
Their alabaster color is caused not by albinism but by a condition known as leucism.
The condition means that they continue to produce dark pigments in their soft tissues, which gives them dark eyes.
Hirola Conservation Program staff announced in 2017 how they had been briefed about the giraffes by local rangers.
“They were so close and extremely calm and didn’t seem disturbed by our presence,” said the conservation workers at the time.
“The mother paced up and down a few meters in front of us while she signaled the baby giraffe to hide behind the bushes.”
The mother’s behavior is “characteristic of most wild animal mothers in the wild to prevent their young’s predators,” they said.
An earlier sighting of a white giraffe was reported in 2016 in Tarangire National Park in Tanzania.
It’s not clear what happened to this animal, but the reserve says the surviving calf in Kenya, now equipped with a GPS tracking device, is the only one known.
The Giraffe Conservation Foundation says the total number of giraffes in Africa has decreased by 30 percent since the 1980s and by as much as 95 percent in some areas.
The Hirola program is named after an endangered species of antelope that the organization aims to protect.
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