"Bearded" Antelope Photographed in Kenya

Paolo Torchio is a wildlife photographer who has lived and worked in Kenya for twenty years.  He's seen just about everything known to man when it comes to wildlife.  Or has he?

A few weeks ago while doing some photography on the Masai Mara National Reserve Torchio saw something unusual.  There was a fuzzy face looking up out of the tall grasses.  At first he thought he was seeing a dog.  When the animal stepped out of the grass he was astonished to see it wasn't a dog but an animal with the markings of a Thomson's gazelle. 

Torchio spent fifteen minutes watching and photographing the unusual animal before it dashed away.  After searching for five days to try and find the gazelle again he couldn't.

Experts are baffled by the photographs.  From all appearances, it is most definitely a gazelle but no animal experts know of a hairy Thomson's gazelle or antelope.  There have been suggestions that the animal could be suffering from illnesses such as hypertrichosis or Cushing's disease.

You will most certainly smile when you see the photos.  Regardless of what has caused this little gazelle to look the way she does, she's very adorable.

For more information and to see a couple of photographs of this remarkable animal, you can check out this article.