Albino Animals - beautiful photos

Let's start first by an explanation about albinism which is often mistaken with leucism for animals:

Albinism (from Latin albus, "white"; see extended etymology, also called achromia, achromasia, or achromatosis) is a congenital disorder characterized by the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes due to absence or defect of an enzyme involved in the production of melanin. Albinism results from inheritance of recessive gene alleles and is known to affect all vertebrates, including humans

Source 1

Leucism is a condition characterized by reduced pigmentation in animals. Unlike albinism, it is caused by a reduction in all types of skin pigment, not just melanin.

Source 2

Now, what's the differences between the two? Albinism differs from leucism in that the melanin is, at least, partially absent but the eyes retain their usual color. Some leucistic animals are white or pale because of chromatophore (pigment cell) defects, and do not lack melanin.
Albinos typically have red eyes due to the underlying blood vessels showing through. In contrast, most leucistic animals have normally coloured eyes

1- Mammals

Snowflake, an albino gorilla, had white hair and pink skin. The eyes look dark in these photos. Snowflake died late 2003 of skin cancer as a result of exposure to too much sunlight.


Deer


Deer fawn with pink eyes and skin.


Zebra. The stripes are much lighter.


Albino Doberman Pinscher with one of normal coloration


Skunk


Raccoon



Lion and babies


Adult Bengal Tigers. The adult albino lacks even the black stripes. Notice that the color of the eyes is different for the two adults.


Albino Eastern Gray Squirrel in Texas


Asian Porcupines


Hedgehogs


Koala


Baby Kangaroo


Wallaby

A white humpback calf made for a, well, whale of a surprise for one boater recently near Australia‘s Whitsunday Island.
“We were just drifting when I noticed the smaller whale in the pod was white. I couldn’t believe my eyes, and I just grabbed my camera,” Wayne Fewings said in a statement issued by the government’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. “Then the white calf approached my boat, seeming to want to check us out. I was just so amazed at seeing this animal. …”
The weeks-old calf, likely born in northern waters of the Great Barrier Reef lacks melanin pigment in its skin, according to Mark Read, species-conservation manager for the Australian agency.

Source 3


Orca


The world's only pink Bottlenose dolphin which was discovered in an inland lake in Louisiana, USA, has become such an attraction that conservationists have warned tourists to leave it alone....
Source 4

Source 1: Wikipedia: albinism
Source 2: Wikipedia: leucism
Source 3: National Geographic
Source 4: Earth changes

....more to come!

2- Birds

Male Peacock. It is an example of a white (leucistic) form


Birdwatchers are rushing to Avebury, near Marlborough, Wiltshire to hopefully catch a glimpse of a rare albino jackdaw. Author Andrew Collins was the first to photograph the bird which locals have named Jackie.


An extremely rare albino Ruby-Throated Hummingbird has been captured in a series of beautiful photos.
Source 5


Dove



Ruby-throated Hummingbirds with dark eyes, so these are the white (leucistic) form. The beak is normally dark in color, as is the case with the bird on the first photo. The one on the second photo has a pink bill.


This is an African Penguin, but it is more commonly called the Jackass Penguin because of the braying-like sound that it makes. A normal individual can be seen at the upper left of the photo. In the wild, these penguins are found only on offshore islands and the coast of southwestern Africa in the countries of South Africa and Namibia.

Source 5: Dailypicksandflicks

This is absolutely gorgeous..thank you so much for putting this together for us. Star and flag from me of course. The deer fawn is my favourite, I think, and I can't wait to see more. And god, doesn't the world need more pink dolphins...what a joy that is.

lovely, absolutely lovely!!!!
So cool the fact it's a recessive gene and not just a random mutation..
That gene must go waaayyyy back to be able to affect all life forms...
I wonder if they know when it first appeared.

and stupid question, but the pink dolphin, is that a result of the albinism? Wouldn't a whale also be pink?
I thought dolphins had a sort of hair-type covering, if i am wrong correct me?

just saw the birds. Ahh I love the peacock!!!
I have a lot, lot of birds around my yard, all different sorts, hopefully sometime I will see an albino in my birdfeeder.

3- Fish - Reptiles


Stingray


A big catfish


Another 1.50m long catfish


Sturgeron


Turtle


California-King two-head snake from the Yalta zoo in Crimea


Cobra


Another snake


Alligator

I think the "other snake" is a ball python (:
(I think they have cute faces lolol)
and HOLY**** that's a huge catfish...

4- Invertebrates

Grasshopper


Snail


Crab


Slug


Lobster with a claw missing

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Sources:
MSN news
Viverdeeco
Animaltalk
Buzzfeed
Odditycentral
Grandpacliff
Earthchanges

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And a particularity that probably most of you aren't aware: it's the melanism which is the opposite of albinism an undue development of dark-colored pigment in the skin or its appendages:

Menalistic animals:

Nice OP! S&F.
I just feel bad for some of them with sunburn issues. I knew an albino doberman who was forced to wear a shirt in the sun for that reason.
I always wondered if pigment issues could work the other way. thank you for the segment on melanism. Interesting to say the least.

reply to post by elevenaugust


Stunning! Thank you for that piece of beauty that filled me with so much serenity. S&F

no melanin/eumalanin

yet they survive under the hot UVA/UVB solar radiation even in sub/tropical zones?

WOW



s&f

Awesome thread. Gorgeous animals. Albino Dobermans are a breed disaster though. The inbreeding is horrific, the animals suffer from a number of maladies.

Many white or albino Doberman owners, though they love their dogs have an extremely difficult time keeping them healthy. The dogs really cannot tolerate the sun and if they must be outside, they have to have lots of sunscreen, t-shirts and even sunglasses. These dogs have a much shorter life span. They rarely live to the age of 7. Their blindness causes them to injure themselves and causes them to be very fearful. This fearfulness often causes unstable temperaments and behavior problems. There are many accounts of owners having to put their beloved pet down because of incidents of biting. Today, there are approximately 8300 Dobermans that are descended from Padulas Queen Shebah. The Doberman Pinscher Club of America tries to minimize breeding of these dogs because ultimatelyFeature Articles, most do not have a good quality of life.

I think albino Dobermans need to be kept from breeding.

Link

It may be pretty, but Albino dogs are inbred, and I don't believe the mutation would continue if not for human intervention.

Best thread I have come across for a VERY long time!!

Loving the Albino Snail - and the Turtle was too damn cute!!

S&F - More of these threads need to be made!

reply to post by elevenaugust


Thanks, for sharing! I enjoyed looking at those pics. Some of them actually amazed me.. Cool!!