He had only a ghost of a chance, but after more than
a decade
of searching, a wildlife researcher has
captured proof of a white giraffe.
In this photo released September 6, the
unusual
beast and its companions stroll through a wilderness
preserve in the African country of Tanzania.
Charles Foley of the Wildlife Conservation Society
(WCS) first
heard reports of the white giraffe in
Tarangire National Park in 1993. For 12 years he
kept an eye out for the living
legend while conducting
his daily business of studying the park's savanna
elephant populations
"By 1994 the sightings stopped coming in, so I
assumed it
had died, either at the hand of man or
beast," Foley said in a WCS press release. "I never
stopped looking though."
Foley's diligence paid off when he was conducting an
aerial
survey of the elephants earlier this month and
saw a glimmer of white amid the trees. His photo,
taken from a plane
flying some 62 miles an hour
(100 kilometers an hour), shows a pale giraffe with brown
colouring
on its legs.
According to Foley, the animal is not a true albino but
is
merely a lighter colour than the average giraffe.
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