Shunned ginger seal now the centre of attention at Russian zoo

Here's a lovely update on an old story: Things are looking up for the little ginger-coloured seal pup whose fate touched the world after being rejected by the rest of its sleek black family.

Left as an outcast, the vulnerable creature was found huddling under a pile of logs on Tyuleniy Island in the far east of Russia.

Photographer Anatoly Strakhov, 61, took heartbreaking pictures of the world's loneliest seal, which would have been unable to survive in the wild.

Two months on and Russians have taken the rare albino seal - who turns out to be female - to their hearts.

Named Nafanya - after a lookalike Soviet cartoon character - the seal was given VIP treatment and has now moved into a plush new home at the country's leading aqauarium. Nafanya was taken on a 7,890-mile odyssey to the Russian mainland and then by special plane to Adler, near Sochi on the Black Sea coast, where she is rapidly becoming a star attraction.

Yulia Frolova, head of the Akvatoria dolphinarium - Nafanya's new home, said: "She now has a special enclosure with a pool, and two weeks after her arrival, people are already coming to see her."

And, quickly adapting to life among humans, the seal has her own live webcam-- which broadcasts between 7am and 1pm UK time-- so her worldwide fans can follow her.

Miss Frolova said: "She has a good appetite, and always seems in a happy mood. She is such an unusual seal with very beautiful bright blue eyes. When she arrived, she was tired after the long flight, but soon picked up her appetite."

More on Nafanya can be read about at the Daily Mail.