To the delight of animals lovers the world over, a pair of rare white giraffes have been spotted in Kenya.

A mother and child, they suffer from a “genetic condition called leucism, which inhibits pigmentation in skin cells,”reports The Guardian.

No, no, it’s not albinism; animals with leucism continue to produce dark pigment in their soft tissue hence the dark eyes and other colours.

Tipped off by local residents, conservationists found the giraffes in the Ishaqbini Hirola Conservancy in Kenya’s Garissa county:

The area is managed by the Hirola Conservation Programme (HCP), an NGO dedicated to preserving the critically endangered hirola antelope, one of the rarest in the world.

The HCP wrote in a blog post that the giraffes were first reported to rangers in June by a local villager.

“They were so close and extremely calm and seemed not disturbed by our presence. The mother kept pacing back and forth a few yards in front of us while signalling the baby giraffe to hide behind the bushes.”

Check them out below – how cute is that little peek at 0:10?

Ugh sweet man.

According to the NGO, this is only the third-known sighting of a white giraffe:

A white giraffe in the same Ishaqbini conservancy was reported in March 2016, while in Tanzania, a Masai giraffe calf called Omo was observed in Tarangire national park in January 2016.

It’s estimated there are around 8 500 giraffes of this kind – listed as  “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature – and live in Somalia, southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya.

And we just got to see two of them. I told you they were magical.

[source:theguardian]