Rare Spotted Zebra Baby Spotted In Kenya
These are several shots and a short video captured by nature photographer Frank Liu of a rare spotted zebra foal at the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. Unfortunately, scientists believe the pattern may threaten the young zebra's survival since those stripes allegedly do serve a purpose (anything from camouflage to temperature regulation to fly repellant). Or, who knows, maybe spots will be even better and this thing will mate like crazy and herald in a new golden age of zebras. Some more info:
The baby zebra, which has been named Tira, in fact has a genetic condition known as "pseudomelanism," which causes abnormalities in zebra stripe patterns, as Ren Larison, a biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, explains to Katie Stacey of National Geographic. Zebras are dark skinned animals, and their stripes arise from specialized skin cells called melanocytes, which transfer melanin into some of their hairs; the hairs that have melanin appear black, and those that do not appear white. But on rare occasions, something goes awry and the melanin does not manifest as stripes.
No word what actually caused the spots, but based on my own freckled exterior, I can assume it's the same gene that causes such a large penis. "Then I should have the same." Well I mean I guess you should, but it certainly doesn't sound like you do.
Keep going for the rest.
Thanks to Luc, who really hopes Tira here gets some sort of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer break in life.
