rare

An extremely rare spotted zebra was spotted (no pun intended) in Maasai Mara! A photographer at the Maasai Mara camp was completely surprised to come across the rare "blacker" newly born zebra. Mr Antony Tira, a renowned tour guide at the camp was able to photograph the black-dotted foal and posted it on the camp's Facebook page, where it has gained a lot of media attention. 

Tira told Nation, "At first I thought it was a zebra that had been captured and painted or marked for purposes of migration. I was confused when I first saw it." Upon closer inspection, Tira realized it was actually a zebra with melanin disorder, hardly a week old.

This is Mara's first record case of such a rare zebra.

Story via Nation

There are different types of depigmentation in felines; Leukoderma ("white skin"), leukotrichia ("white hair") or vitiligo, which leaves cats with a "snowflake" appearance. All the conditions are very rare and purely cosmetic, meaning the animals who have the rare condition aren't physically affected by it.

Vitiligo is one form of leukoderma. It usually causes loss of pigment on the face and feet, and this form of vitiligo has been linked to cats that derived from South-East Asian (Siamese, Burmese and related breeds). 

Learn more about Vitiligo at MessyBeast

The extremely rare strawberry leopard has been photographed for the very first time up close! The image was caught by a couple, Alan and Lynsey Watson, in Thaba Tholo Wilderness Reserve. The couple had seen the leopard skulking around the reserve before but was never able to capture it on film. 

The strawberry leopard gets its name due to its unusual reddish skin pigmentation. The images the Watson's managed to get show the pink-hued creature feasting on the carcass on a giraffe, which had been kill during an intense thunderstorm. 

Story via Fox News

Kurt Cobain was an animal lover and even considered opening a petting zoo. Kurt has said he liked cats over dogs because they don't care about anything that they don't find worth their time.

Meet Toby, the 6-year-old handsome cat who looks wise beyond his years, and who has feline cutaneous asthenia (FCA), also known as Ehlers Danlos syndrome in humans. Which means that his body doesn't produce collagen properly, resulting in loose skin. This also means that his skin is very fragile, easily bruised and cut. 

Story via Love Meow

If you ever were to see one of these snakes in real life, the first instinct would probably be to run away -- and quickly. But if you stopped for a moment longer, you could appreciate just how magnificent their coloring can be. Some of these snakes straight-up just look like dragons. Especially bush vipers that have dragon-like scales and a dragon-shaped head.

Snakes are some of the most misunderstood creatures despite there being lots of snake facts and information available. People seem to have a natural fear and avoidance of snakes, even though some, like the zombie snake, are just big goofy nope-ropes that won't even hurt anyone. 

Snakes in general are fairly common all over the world, as it is believed snakes evolved from burrowing lizards, which were already world-wide. Some snakes are extremely rare, and seeing them is a real treat for enthusiasts. Just be sure to keep a safe distance, and make sure to do that funny dance everyone does if you touch the snake's skin and it grosses you out.

A truck driver was driving through the rice fields of Yolo County, Sacramento, when he came across a white mound in the middle of the road. Quickly swerving to avoid hitting it, he continued on for a split second until he saw another truck behind him swerve as well. The truck driver decided to turn around and investigate but was confused as to what the white mound was, upon closer inspection.  

As first, he thought it was a lamb or maybe some type of goat, but he heard it mew, like a cat. He called up Kindred Spirits Fawn Rescue center and sent the center's President, Diane Nicholas, a photo of the animal. 

Nicholas told LA Times, "He said, 'I don't know what I've got, I said, 'Oh, my gosh, that's an albino fawn!'"

Story via LA Times

According to China Daily, the infrared camera captured the incredibly rare footage of a fully albino panda in the mountains of China's Wolong National Nature Reserve. The images were released to the public this past Saturday and researchers say it is the very first time an entirely while panda has ever been identified. 

Li Sheng, of Peking University, told Xinhua news agency, the never-before-seen albino panda seems to be at most 2 years old. "Judging from the photo, the panda is physically strong and taking steady steps, suggesting the gene mutation is not affecting its normal life."

And being albino, the bear might be more sensitive to the sun but in no way should affect its ability to reproduce. If it were to reproduce, however, the offspring would only inherit the albinism if both parents carried the gene, as it is a recessive trait. In a 2014 census, it was revealed that roughly 1800 giant pandas are left in this world, according to the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), marking their status has "vulnerable". 

Officials say that they will attempt to continue track of the bear by installing more motion cameras. 

And while experts knew albinism occurred in pandas, this is the very first time it's been captured on camera! Check out the image below! 

Get your feline fix with these vintage photos of big cats in action. Via: Mental Floss

Grasshoppers are green, ladybugs are red with black dots, dalmations have black spots... don't they? Nature can be so unpredictable and beautiful. Check out these beautiful creatures below:

Originally found via Brightside.me

What an incredible triumph! Tim Wong, an aquatic biologist, took it upon himself to fix a situation that no one seemed to be doing anything about. And he did it all within his backyard! Just goes to show that anyone can make a difference. 

Story originally found via Brightside

There are so species out there! Enjoy this list of 25 animals that are not that well known. 

During a trip to Kenya, Will Burrard-Lucas (@willbl) captured several photos of a wild melanistic black leopard, also known as a black panther. The images are believed to be the first of their kind taken in Africa in 100 years.

Nature is wonderful!