Giraffes

A giraffe without spots at a Tennessee zoo may be plain, but she's definitely not ordinary.

The female reticulated giraffe was born July 31 at the family owned Brights Zoo in Limestone, a rural community in northeastern Tennessee.

In 2016, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) shifted the conservation status of giraffes from species of "least concern" to "vulnerable". It seems that in all of six years, the gentle giants had gone from a state of low or no concern to being just four steps away from a complete wipeout.

The Carr-Hartley family have the rare honor of sharing their manor estate with some of the most beautiful, endangered creatures in the world: Rothschild giraffes. Located on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, the manor-turned-hotel sprawls across 140 acres and is home to eight giraffes.

A British zoo was celebrating after the birth of a rare Rothschild's giraffe calf, whose number has dwindled to fewer than 1,600 in its native Kenya and Uganda.

It sounded like a very tall story. But a Croatian company, which produces office supplies such as pens and pencils, says it is serious about plans to buy its own pet giraffe in order to draw visitors to the company site, and boost its public profile.

Although it was perceived as a practical joke at first, the director of company, Tihomir Lalic, maintains that the idea has legs.