She was born in the Maasai ‘Mara’ which directly translates to spotted!
Massai Mara, Kenya – On the 15th of September 2019, a safari guide discovered a one of a kind genetically mutated baby Zebra in the Maasai Mara and named it after his surname – Tira.
The Maasai Mara is a large game reserve in Narok County, Kenya, contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. It is world-renowned for its exceptional populations of lions, leopards, cheetahs and elephant, and the annual migration of wildebeest, zebra, Thomson’s gazelle and other antelope, to and from the Serengeti every year known as the Great Migration.
The game reserve is named in honour of the Maasai people (the ancestral inhabitants of the area) and their description of the area when looked at from afar: “Mara” means “spotted” in the local Maasai language of Maa, due to the many trees which dot the landscape.
And so it seems that little Tira with her own ‘Mara’ was born in exactly the right place.
Wildest Africa posted the pics to their Facebook which have quickly gone viral with the polka dot cuteness!
“This morning, we were one of the first ones to visit Tira! A few years ago, there was a similar case. However, that zebra still maintained the stripes and brush-like tail. Tira, yet, has patterns that appear as polka dots! I hope the experts will look into this case and share some interesting discoveries soon!”
Check out some of the pics below: