Rare Golden Zebra Spotted in Laikipia Causes a Stir [PHOTOS]

Mother nature treated tourists to yet another glorious sight after another rare-coloured zebra was spotted at Loisaba Conservancy in Laikipia.

After photos of the 'gold-coloured' zebra appeared on Mwakuli Tour and Travel's facebook page on Thursday, September 12, the internet went wild with excitement.

The apparent discovery of the blonde zebra comes days after the 'blacker' polka-dotted Zebra was photographed in Maasai Mara Game Reserve. 

The blonde zebra with nearly faded stripes was pictured grazing next to three other zebras with the usual black and white stripes.

A few days before a dotted zebra foul in Mara discovery caused a stampede in the Game Reserve with tour drivers and photographers, hurriedly taking tourists to the lookout area near the Mara River.

This was the first case in the Mara of such a zebra as explained by a wildlife specialist at Matira Camp Parmale Lemein

However, he quickly pointed out that according to research, none of the Zebras with such conditions in other parks in Africa survived for more than six months after birth.

The explanation behind the varying pigmentation according to research was that ‘blonde’ or golden-coloured zebras have a condition known as amelanism.

This is a pigmentation abnormality characterised by the lack of colour pigments called melanin. 

The darker zebra, however, inhibits melanistic characters, which research refers as undue development of dark-coloured pigment in the skin or its appendages and is the opposite of albinism.

Recently, Kenyans also celebrated the birth of a white giraffe, born to a white mother, in the Ishaqbini-Hirola Community Conservancy, Garissa County.

The birth of the male white calf brought the count to two, and are reported to be the only ones of their kind in the country.