The giraffe is known as the leopard-printed camel, and it is the tallest animal in the world (still alive). The Qilin that Zheng He brought back from the West was this thing.
Maybe all you see on TV or at the zoo are leopard-print giraffes, but have you ever seen a white giraffe?
White giraffe found in the Republic of Kenya in March 2016.
This is the only surviving "white giraffe" in the world known to have recently installed a global positioning system (GPS) tracking device on it, hoping to block the hunting of illegal poachers, the conservator said.
GPS is installed to monitor the activity of this male giraffe in real time and prevent it from being hunted by poachers. This white giraffe turns white because it suffers from a rare genetic disorder called leucism, which causes a loss of skin pigmentation.
After poachers killed two members of the white giraffe in March 2016, it was thought to be the last white giraffe left in the world. Guards at the reserve fear that the giraffe could suffer the same fate as his family, a female giraffe and an eight-month-old baby giraffe.
The bodies of two white giraffes that were hunted were found in a protected area in Garissa County, northeast of the Republic of Kenya, where the male giraffe now lives alone.
Conservation groups that oversee wildlife in the area say the electronic tracking device was installed on one of the giraffe's horns on Nov. 8.
In a statement released On Nov. 17, the group said GPS would update the giraffe's whereabouts on an hourly basis, enabling rangers to "protect the life of this unique animal from poachers."
The Kenya Wildlife Society, the republic's main conservation agency, said it was happy to help protect "rare wildlife, like the only known white giraffe".
Garissa County, Republic of Kenya (shaded part)
Giraffes originally grow in more than 15 countries in Africa and are the tallest mammals on Earth. But they are also targeted by poachers, who peel off their skins to buy, while giraffe meat is eaten and bones are considered medicinal.
According to the African Wildlife Fund (AWF), about 40 percent of giraffe populations have gone extinct over the past 30 years as a result of poaching and illegal wildlife trafficking. Giraffes are designated as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, with only 68,293 remaining worldwide.