Albino Animals: How to Stand Out From the Crowd

Being one of a kind does have its disadvantages, especially for albino animals, who despite being exotically beautiful and unique, are especially vulnerable to predators and sun burns. Albinism is a congenital disorder that robs the skin, hair and eyes of colour. Interestingly, some of "albinos" are simply rare breeds without the actual pigmentation condition.

 

 

1/15

© Flickr / Kevin McGill

Albino kangaroos are rare and while they stand out in the natural world, it unfortunately attracts the unwanted attention of predators.

2/15

© Flickr / AR Nature Gal

All white peafowl are not, in fact, albinos. The explanation is simple: they have a genetic mutation called leucism which causes an overall reduction or complete lack of pigment.

3/15

© Flickr / André van Rooyen

While reports of white lions first surfaced in the 1930s, scientists were not able to officially document their existence until 1975. It is not clear exactly when the white lions re-emerged on our planet.

4/15

© Flickr / Gordon Dionne

White horses are born white and stay that way throughout their life. However, most horses that are commonly referred to as "white" are actually "gray" horses whose hair coats are completely white.

5/15

CC BY 2.0 / Stephen Poff /

Commonly known as the harlequin ladybird, this beetle occurs in numerous colour forms and white is one of them.

6/15

© Flickr / Laurent Bartkowski

White tigers are a sub-species of Bengal tigers; they occur after breeding two Bengal tigers with a recessive gene that controls coat color.

7/15

© Flickr / Tambako The Jaguar

Native to South and North America, coatis have a reputation for intelligence and are active day and night. White is an exotic colour in coatis, since they usually have either a light brown or black coats.

8/15

© Flickr / Bill Kuffrey

Koala is one of the most adored animals in the world and an all-white coat makes them even cuter in the eyes of animal lovers.

9/15

© Flickr / Hillarie

As with all white animals, albino alligators are very vulnerable to the sun and predators.

10/15

© Flickr / Ruy Gatto

Flamingos owe their distinct pink colour to the presence of red carotenoids in their natural food, but when these carotenoids are in short supply, flamingos appear white after the next moult.

11/15

© Flickr / Bea

Since the domestication of hedgehogs began in early 1980s, several new colours became common in these animals, including albino and pinto.

12/15

© Flickr / Dean Thorpe

Due to the missing pigment of melanine, albino rattlesnakes look very different from regular rattlesnakes of subtle earth tones that resemble the surrounding environment.

13/15

© Flickr / Peter Trimming

Most of the “albino” squirrels are actually non-albino as they simply exhibit a rare white fur coloration known as leucism. Technically, they should be referred to as white squirrels.

14/15

© Flickr / DM

The majority of Pekingese dogs are gold, red or sable. Albino Pekingese, white with pink eyes, are bred cautiously due to health problems that have been associated with albinism.

15/15

© Flickr / Andy

Albino whitetail deer have a milky pink skin because the flowing blood can be seen through it. These rare animals wear a pure white coat and the irises of their eyes are usually pink as well.