Mysterious Orange Alligator Spotted in Florida, page 1

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Topic started on 8-1-2011 @ 12:52 PM by predator0187

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VENICE, Florida (KTLA) -- An orange alligator photographed in South Florida is raising questions about its strange pigment.

74-year-old Sylvia Mythen spotted the gator sunning beside a neighborhood canal in Venice near her home earlier this week and she was so shocked, she took a picture.

Mythen contacted her local news stations and a biologist but says she really took the picture because she wanted to show her grandkids in Indiana.

So they think it was done by paint or another chemical and not genetic hey? It would be cooler if it was genetic, and how the hell do they know for sure without testing the animal?

I had to share this because, well, this is awesome. Who doesn't want to see a orange crocodile?

Any thoughts?

Pred...

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edit on 8/1/2011 by ArMaP because: (no reason given)

reply posted on 8-1-2011 @ 12:55 PM by indigothefish

reply to post by predator0187

could be mud, at least if i saw that picture without being foretold anything about it, i would assume nothing was out of the ordinary and that the aligator just had some dried clay/mud on it, just an observation

reply posted on 8-1-2011 @ 01:37 PM by FrankieNinja

reply to post by indigothefish

I agree... looks like MUD

reply posted on 8-1-2011 @ 01:52 PM by crazydaisy

If it was mud wouldn't we see a few clumps? Could be a cross between an Albino gator and a regular gator - white and green making orange

reply posted on 8-1-2011 @ 01:54 PM by cluckerspud

Originally posted by crazydaisy
If it was mud wouldn't we see a few clumps?

Not necessarily. Mud can be in many consistencies.

reply posted on 8-1-2011 @ 07:29 PM by 13th Zodiac

It is genetic.It is called hypomelanism .I am a herpetologist and wildlife curator for Elapid Education and Awareness Group .I keep a few examples of hypomelanistic animals here .Hypomelanism is a mutation just like an albino . While uncommon in the wild ,it is made a common trait in captive animals through line breeding .

edit on 8-1-2011 by 13th Zodiac because: typo

reply posted on 8-1-2011 @ 07:39 PM by gandalphthegrey

It could also be a prank .
The use of selective colouring in Photoshop would make it simple to achieve this effect.

edit on 8-1-2011 by gandalphthegrey because: (no reason given)

reply posted on 8-1-2011 @ 10:30 PM by indigothefish

reply to post by 13th Zodiac

ah i see,

There are two different forms of albinism; a partial lack of the melanin is known as hypomelanism, or hypomelanosis and the total absence of melanin is known as amelanism or amelanosis.

web... cache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:6pRGYaila70J:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albinism+hypomelanism&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

still though, i've seen a few gators in my day, and they do live in murky water, muddy water and clay sediment areas, so a sight like this doesn't even seem out of place to me, it just looks like mud to me!

however, if it is hypomelanosis, in a way this could be a genetic trait ( i guess if passed on ) that could lead to offstpring that can 'blend in' with orange clay and mud really well, maybe along the 'natural selection' line of thought

interesting

edit on 1/8/2011 by indigothefish because: (no reason given)

reply posted on 9-1-2011 @ 10:55 PM by Cybermerc

reply to post by 13th Zodiac

I don't think its genetic. Take a look at his tail, there are spots where the orange substance has washed off.

reply posted on 9-1-2011 @ 11:02 PM by sugarcookie1

What a neat picture! I never heard of a hypomelanosis gator i just learned something new today..Thanks for posting this pic very interisting..

reply posted on 9-1-2011 @ 11:42 PM by shadowind

To me it looks like an albino aligator that is covered in some sort of oarnge dust and not really an oarnge in pigment itself. Is it just dirt with high iron content making it look oarnge or is it something else?
cheesy puff alligator anyone?

reply posted on 10-1-2011 @ 07:57 PM by predator0187

Originally posted by 13th Zodiac
It is genetic.It is called hypomelanism .I am a herpetologist and wildlife curator for Elapid Education and Awareness Group .I keep a few examples of hypomelanistic animals here .Hypomelanism is a mutation just like an albino . While uncommon in the wild ,it is made a common trait in captive animals through line breeding .
edit on 8-1-2011 by 13th Zodiac because: typo

Thanks for that explanation.