|
#1
●
10-10-2013, 06:15 PM
| ||||||||
 Satan's Playground Poster Rank:164 Southern Bell Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 9,385 Mentioned: 31 Post(s) Quoted: 157 Post(s)
| ||||||||
|
Golden Zebra Zoe
The zebra, named Zoe, is real and she indeed has gold coloured stripes and blue eyes. However, the circulating image has been digitally enhanced to increase the intensity of her golden stripes. Zoe lives at the Three Ring Ranch animal sanctuary in Hawaii. She has a condition called amelanosis, which is the cause of her striking appearance. This image, depicting a beautiful golden striped zebra is currently circulating via social media websites and the blogosphere. The animal depicted is real and indeed has golden-hued stripes and blue eyes. Zoe, the rare golden zebra, lives at the the Three Ring Ranch Exotic Animal Sanctuary town of Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. Information about Zoe on the Three Ring Ranch website Her unusual color is due to her having "amelanosis". She is not an albino. She has striking gold stripes and blue eyes. In horses, there is a similar condition called "Lethal White Foal Syndrome" which is associated with the occurrence of other serious birth defects. Although this color variation occasionally occurs in wild herds, the animals would likely survive only a few days at best. This is probably because zebras use their stripes as camouflage to blend in with the rest of herd. This then allows the herd, to confuse predators with the changing patterns formed by the movement of a large group. Animals that stand out from the herd are easy targets for predators. In nature, having a color variation that makes you stand out is not a good thing! There have been reports of at least two other "white" zebras in captivity. One in Germany about a hundred years ago and another at a zoo in Tokyo in the 1970's. At this time we know of only one other zebra like Zoe alive. If anyone has heard of other "white" zebras, we would be very interested in hearing about them. While Zoe is certainly real, the circulating photograph of her has been "enhanced" apparently in an effort to increase the intensity of her stripes. The original, unaltered, image was snapped by Bill Adams  · |
