Awesome, Rare Albino Animals
March 30, 2010 by James Bent - 17 Comments
It’s hard to say exactly why albino animals capture our attention so much better than their normal counterparts. Obviously the novelty of the experience plays a huge role, since these animals are quite rare, but it feels like there’s something else as well. These animals have a sort of radiance that just makes them seem. . . grander. If you disagree, just look below at all of these beautiful animals, and then tell me I’m wrong.
Lion
Gorilla
Alligator
Turtle
Peacock
Hedgehog
Zebra
Koala
Crab
Python
Dolphin
Popularity: 100% [?]
Reader Comment
Combat Games (February 24th, 2011, 10:41 pm)
Wow… quite striking. I have to wonder if the peacock feels a little silly trying to attract attention without all of his bright colors.
JoeShmo101 (May 5th, 2011, 08:23 am)
I’m sorry, but that dolphin is pink.
sdsafasdfasdfa (July 1st, 2011, 09:38 pm)
the dolphin is pink b/c the skin is so clear you can see the blood, you know it’s an albino by the eyes
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4927224/Pink-dolphin-appears-in-US-lake.html
Silent (July 1st, 2011, 09:40 pm)
@JoeShmo, albino animals are not necessarily white – just lack melanin and therefore have little or no skin and hair pigmentation. White animals are actually far more common than true albinos (look for characteristic pink eyes).
Mallory (July 1st, 2011, 11:01 pm)
Mostly good, but sadly the lion (which looks so cool) is faked – there are white lions, but they aren’t that white. They’re more of a cream colour; this is a good example here http://www.flickr.com/photos/squeezy/441216344/in/photostream/
Lindsay (July 2nd, 2011, 05:23 am)
That is a pink river dolphin. They live in the Amazon.
Jonathan (July 2nd, 2011, 07:57 am)
@Mallory, Actually, white lions and albino lions both exist. White lions inherit their trait through a recessive gene which is separate from the gene linked with albinism. While this image may indeed be faked, real albino lions do look similar.
Chipper (July 6th, 2011, 03:58 am)
“Expecto Patronum!!!” (sorry, I couldn’t resist)
@Combat Games: I am sure the peacock is colorblind as well, so his ego is intact. you know what they say; ignorance is bliss!
kat (July 8th, 2011, 02:54 pm)
when I was driving for a pizza delivery company I hit an albino peacock…. a person had peacocks as pets, and they got out one day. I wish i still had that feather..
Lauren (July 9th, 2011, 08:14 pm)
@Chipper Nocturnal birds, such as owls, are the only type of birds that are color blind. Peacocks have no trouble seeing in color
Emily (July 10th, 2011, 06:40 am)
friend of mine has a pet albino snake, not sure what breed. But it’s pink with yellow markings and red eyes, like the python above. It’s very pretty.
starfire (July 11th, 2011, 08:41 am)
@Lauren actually they could be colorblind. one of the things by biology class and veterinary/animal sciences class taught us is that albino animals have higher possibility of being born color-blind.
Mike (July 11th, 2011, 09:55 am)
@Lauren You have no way of knowing whether an animal is colorblind or not. You cannot see anything through its eyes.
flbikerchick (July 11th, 2011, 03:30 pm)
@Mike There’ve been many experiments involving training animals and birds to recognize different colors. Pigeons, for example, can see a wide range of colors and are used in some areas by the Coast Guard to spot bright orange life jackets worn by shipwreck victims to aid in rescue.
Albino animals may look beautiful to us, but it’s actually a huge disadvantage to the animal in the wild. They have almost no protection against UV rays, get sunburned very easily, and frequently develop skin cancers and eye problems which reduce their lifespans, and because they look different, they stand out and are easy prey to predators, and also are rejected as breeding partners. The dolphin, which is NOT an Amazon dolphin, may very well be pink because of sunburn.
griffin (July 12th, 2011, 08:42 am)
dolphin is just a bottole nose that is pink, it is actually very common
griffin (July 12th, 2011, 08:43 am)
i meant not as rare as albino but rare
Liz (July 12th, 2011, 09:44 am)
The peacock isn’t an albino. Neither is the turtle. If the lion photo wasn’t faked then it would also not be an albino. Albino animals have no black pigmentation, a leucistic animal is a white animal that has black eyes, like the turtle and peacock. Actually white peacocks are pretty common. Imagine how some chickens are white and some are brown or black… it’s just another color variation. Pied peacocks are also very common and striking, with white patches or streaks mixed in the regular coloring. A lot of albino animals aren’t even white, a good example are many varieties of albino snakes, such as albino corn snakes that are bright orange or albino burmese pythons that are banana yellow.
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