Holy Cow! That's a White Alligator! 

08/17/2012

2 Comments

 
Survival of the Fittest

    Just like humans, animals and reptiles can be albinos. You can tell that this alligator is an albino because of it's white skin and pink eyes.  
    Alligators can also have a rare condition called leucism (loo-SIS-em) which gives them white skin too. The difference between the two is the eye color. 
    When an alligator has leucism it does not loose the pigment in its eyes. 
    Unfortunately, in both cases, the alligators have short life spans. 
    They stand out to predators and they don't have the luxury of putting on sunscreen like we do. 
Picture
"Spooky Albino Aligator" by Phil King
Source posted by Julia
 


Comments

bwsf
08/20/2012 9:39pm

I don't know if it's the same alligator or not, I think it has to be though. We have an albino alligator in San Francisco at the Academy of Sciences. His name is Claude and we love seeing him! It's one of my son's favorite things in the whole city :)

Reply
michelle
08/20/2012 9:45pm

I think your right! That's amazing that you could recognize old Claude just from this photo. I've only ever see an albino alligator at the New Orleans Aquarium...they are awesome!

Reply



Leave a Reply