Rare white giraffes captured on video in Kenyan conservation area

Their appearance is a result of a heritable genetic condition called leucism

The reticulated giraffes, a mother and calf, lack the animal's characteristic marking patterns and colour (Hirola Conservation Programme)

Two rare white giraffes have been captured on camera in Kenya.

The reticulated giraffes, a mother and calf, lack the animal's characteristic marking patterns and colour.

Their appearance is a result of a heritable genetic condition called leucism, which reduces pigmentation in skin cells.

Unlike albinism, leucism does not affect eye colour.

The giraffes were spotted in the Ishaqbini conservancy in Garissa County, Kenya.

The area is managed by the Hirola Conservation Programme (HCP), an NGO protecting the habitat of the hirola antelope, which is the world's most threatened antelope.

In a blog, the HCP said the giraffes were reported to rangers in June.

"They were so close and extremely calm and seemed not disturbed by our presence," the blog said.

"The mother kept pacing back and forth a few yards in front of us while signalling the baby Giraffe to hide behind the bushes – a characteristic of most wildlife mothers in the wild to prevent the predation of their young."

It added that only two known sightings of white giraffes have been made before.

A white giraffe was reported in January last year in Taranigire National Park in Tanzania, according to the HCP, with a second sighting reported in March last year in the same Ishaqbini conservancy in Kenya.

Reticulated giraffes are native to Somalia, southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya.

They are listed as "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with approximately 8,500 living in the wild.