VIDEO: Visitors to a Swiss zoo catch a glimpse of a rare albino Galapagos giant tortoise born in May

 

VIDEO: Visitors to a Swiss zoo catch a glimpse of a rare albino Galapagos giant tortoise born in May pic.twitter.com/Yh8cR5aT8C

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) June 6, 2022

Rare albino orangutan spotted in Borneo rainforest

Yahoo – AFP, March 4, 2020

Alba, the world’s only known albino orangutan, was released back into the wild
in late 2018 (AFP Photo/Handout)

The world's only known albino orangutan has been spotted alive and well in a Borneo rainforest, more than a year after she was released into the wild, conservationists say.

Alba, a blue-eyed primate covered in fuzzy white hair, was taken in 2017 from a cage where she was being kept as a pet by villagers in Indonesia's section of Borneo, known as Kalimantan.

Alba was released back into the wild in late 2018.

This week, the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation said Alba was spotted as it monitored three other orangutans who were recently released.

"After we learned that she can build nests, forage independently and is no longer dependent on human assistance we concluded that she can survive in the forest," said Indra Exploitasia, the environment ministry's director of biodiversity conservation.

Alba's rescue was some rare positive news for the critically endangered species, which has seen its habitat shrink drastically over the past few decades largely due to the destruction of forests for logging, paper, palm oil and mining.

Plantation workers and villagers are sometimes known to attack the animals because they see them as a pest, while poachers also capture them to sell as pets.

Rare all-white panda spotted in China reserve: State media

Aljazeera –AFP, 26 May 2019

China's Wolong National Nature Reserve is in Sichuan province which is home to 80 percent of the world's wild pandas.

Pandas are currently listed as a vulnerable species, with fewer than 2,000 living in the
wild according to the World Wildlife Fund [Handout Wolong National Nature Reserve/AFP]

A rare all-white panda has been caught on camera at a nature reserve in southwest China, showing albinism exists among wild pandas in the region, state media reported.

The bear was photographed while trekking through the forest in mid-April in southwest Sichuan province, said official news agency Xinhua on Saturday.

The panda is an albino between one to two years old, said Li Sheng, a researcher specialising in bears at Peking University, who was quoted in Xinhua's report.

The Wolong National Nature Reserve - where the animal was spotted - told AFP it had no further details about the albino panda.

More than 80 percent of the world's wild pandas live in Sichuan, with the rest in Shaanxi and Gansu province.

Giant panda park

There were about 548 giant pandas in captivity globally as of November, reported Xinhua.

The number living in the wild has dwindled to fewer than 2,000, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Famed for its "panda diplomacy", in which China dispatches the rare animals to other countries as a symbol of close relations, Beijing has invested in different programmes to protect its furry ambassadors in recent years.

In 2018, China announced plans to create a bastion for giant pandas three times the size of Yellowstone National Park to link up existing wild populations and encourage breeding of the notoriously slow-reproducing animal.

At least 10 billion yuan ($1.45bn) had been budgeted for the Giant Panda National Park in mountainous southwestern China the state-run China Daily reported.

Pandas are currently listed as a vulnerable species, which means that while their survival is still threatened, conservation efforts have helped reduce their danger of extinction.

Rare albino orangutan released back into the wild

Yahoo – AFP, December 21, 2018

'Alba', the only albino orangutan ever recorded in the world, was rescued by
environmentalists from a cage where she was being kept as a pet by villagers
(AFP Photo/Handout)

Jakarta (AFP) - The world’s only known albino orangutan has been released back into the jungle more than a year after she was found emaciated and bloody in a remote corner of Borneo, an Indonesian NGO said Friday.

Environmentalists rescued "Alba" from a cage where she was being kept as a pet by villagers in Central Kalimantan in April last year.

She was found with dry blood smeared around her nose -- the result of her violent capture -- and weighed just 8 kilogrammes, the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) said.

The blue-eyed primate, covered in fuzzy white hair, was on Wednesday returned to the wild with her best friend, Kika, after leaving their rehabilitation centre.

The blue-eyed primate, covered in fuzzy white hair, returned to the wild with her best 

friend, Kika, after more than a year in a rehabilitation centre (AFP Photo/Handout)

"So far she's showing good signs of adapting," Nico Hermanu, a BOSF spokesman, told AFP.

"She's been climbing trees as high as 35 metres (about 115 feet) and has been eating fruit from the forest."

Kika and Alba -- who is six years old and now 28 kilos -- will be monitored by conservation teams at Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park.

The rescue is a rare spot of bright news for the critically endangered species, which has seen its habitat shrink drastically over the past few decades largely due to the destruction of forests for logging, paper, palm oil and mining.

The rescue is a rare spot of bright news for the critically 

endangered species, which has seen its habitat shrink 

drastically over the past few decades largely due to

the destruction of forests (AFP Photo/Handout)

The population of orangutans in Borneo has plummeted from about 288,500 in 1973 to about 100,000 today, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

A string of fatal attacks on the great apes this year have been blamed on farmers and hunters.

Four Indonesian men were arrested over the killing of an orangutan shot some 130 times with an air rifle in February.

Borneo police have also arrested two rubber plantation workers and accused them of shooting an orangutan multiple times before decapitating it.

Plantation workers and villagers are sometimes known to attack the animal because they see it as a pest, while poachers also capture them to sell as pets.

Albino orangutans are rare on Borneo island, where most have
reddish-brown hair (AFP Photo/HANDOUT)

Related Article:

Rare albino orangutan rescued on Borneo island

Doggy diplomacy: S. Korea unveils newborn Northern pups

Yahoo – AFP, 26 November 2018

Gomi, which was given to Moon Jae-in by Kim Jong Un, gave birth to six puppies

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his wife have been pictured cuddling a litter of puppies whelped by one of the dogs given to them by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a symbol of the strengthening ties between the two countries.

Images released on Sunday show the couple smiling as they sit on the ground outside their residence in Seoul surrounded by the six pups and their mother Gomi.

Kim sent Moon a pair of indigenous North Korean hunting dogs following their meeting in Pyongyang in September as a token of their rapidly blossoming friendship.

"Meet the newborn puppies of Gomi, one of the Pungsan dogs from North Korea," Moon's office tweeted on Sunday.

It posted two pictures of the dogs, one of them showing five furry white pups cuddled on Moon's lap with the sixth in the first lady's arms, with Gomi by their side in the courtyard of the presidential residence.

Moon's posted two pictures of the pooches, one of them showing five furry white 

pups cuddled on Moon's lap with the sixth in the first lady's arms

Both the mother and the puppies -- three males and three females born on November 9 -- were "very healthy", the presidential office said.

Known for loyalty and intelligence, the Pungsan breed -- a hunting dog with a thick, creamy white coat, pointy ears and hazel eyes -- is originally from an area of the same name in the North.

"As the pregnancy period of dogs is about two months, Gomi must have been pregnant when she came to us," Moon tweeted when the puppies were born, adding: "I hope inter-Korean ties will also be like this."

Moon is a known animal lover who has four dogs -- the two canines gifted by Kim, another Pungsan dog Maru, and a black mutt named Tory he adopted after taking office -- plus a former shelter cat called Jjing-Jjing.

Moving house can be stressful: Female albino alligators - some as long as five meters and weighing more than 80 kg - are moved into a new home at the Porte Dorée tropical aquarium in Paris

Moving house can be stressful: Female albino alligators - some as long as five meters and weighing more than 80 kg - are moved into a new home at the Porte Dorée tropical aquarium in Paris pic.twitter.com/V1sYhLVZts

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 25, 2018

VIDEO: Bangladesh's first ever albino tiger cub was born in a zoo in Chittagong

VIDEO: Bangladesh's first ever albino tiger cub was born in a zoo in Chittagong pic.twitter.com/eFpYSxbv2z

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 14, 2018

VIDEO: Three baby Bengal tigers, including one albino cub, born in May play at the Bengal Safari Park in India

VIDEO: Three baby Bengal tigers, including one albino cub, born in May play at the Bengal Safari Park in India 🐯 pic.twitter.com/ZrU2S4rxep

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 5, 2018

Rare white bison born at Belgrade Zoo

Yahoo – AFP, 30 May 2018

"Dusanka", an extremely rare white bison, was born at Belgrade zoo

One of the world's rarest animals -- a white bison -- has been born at Belgrade zoo, officials said.

The calf, named Dusanka, was born on Monday and trotted around her enclosure in "good health", according to the zoo's veterinarian.

"According to my information, no other (American) white bison has been born in Europe," veterinarian Jozef Ezvedj told AFP.

"Her father Jovan (a white bison) came to us in 2007, imported from America when he was still very young, practically a baby. Dusanka inherited his genes," Ezvedj said.

Dusanka's father was also a white bison

"We are making sure that she is in good health and that she enjoys a peaceful childhood."

Many Native Americans consider white bison to be a good omen and a symbol of hope.

Thousands of Native Americans joined in celebrations of the birth of a white bison female in the US state of Wisconsin in 1994.

"Perhaps we should inform them? Bison among Native Americans are very important in terms of mythological significance," Ezvedj said.

Rare white koala born at Australian zoo

Yahoo – AFP, August 22, 2017

This undated handout from the Australia Zoo received on August 22, 2017 shows a
white koala joey on her mother Tia at the Australia Zoo on Queensland's Sunshine Coast

A koala at an Australian zoo has given birth to a rare white joey, staff announced Tuesday.

Handlers at the Australia Zoo on Queensland's Sunshine Coast say the pale animal born in January owes its white fur to a recessive gene inherited from mother Tia.

The mother has given birth to light-coloured joeys in the past.

"In veterinary science it’s often referred to as the 'silvering gene' where animals are born with white or very pale fur and, just like baby teeth, they eventually shed their baby fur and the regular adult colouration comes through," said the zoo's wildlife hospital director Rosie Booth in a statement.

Koala fur differs in colour -- from light grey to brown -- depending on their environment. Animals in the south of Australia tend to have thicker and darker fur than those in the north.

But a white koala is incredibly rare, Booth said, and "quite unfortunate" if born in the wild, since it is more visible to predators.

The much-loved koala has been under increasing threat across Australia in recent decades, particularly from habitat loss, disease, dog attacks and bushfires.

The joey is yet to be named and Tourism Australia is set to encourage suggestions.

Rare white elk draws crowds in Sweden -- and a warning

Yahoo – AFP, August 15, 2017

Experts have warned people flocking to catch a glimpse of a rare white elk in
Sweden have urged them to be cautious (AFP Photo/Tommy PEDERSEN)

Stockholm (AFP) - Experts on Tuesday urged sightseers flocking to catch a glimpse of a rare white elk in Sweden to take care, warning that the animal could be dangerous.

Video footage of the animal posted online has gone viral in recent days, prompting people to head for the central Varmland region where it was spotted.

"Elks can get irritated,...and then they're dangerous," said Goran Ericsson, a professor of animal ecology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

"I would advise people to keep their distance," he told AFP. A typical elk weighed between 400 and 600 kilos (880 to 1,320 pounds), he pointed out.

Authorities in the central Varmland region said Monday crowds of people had been following the elk in the forest and on private property, disturbing locals and nature lovers.

Local politician Hans Nilsson filmed the elk and posted the clip on his Facebook page.

The elk -- or moose, as they are called in the United States -- is completely white, even its antlers, due to a recessive gene that is not uncommon among elks in the area, Ericsson said.

Between 50 and 100 elks in the region are white, and in all of Sweden there are around 1,000 white elks out of a total of 300,000 elks.

Rare albino orangutan rescued on Borneo island

Yahoo – AFP, May 2, 2017

Albino orangutans are rare on Borneo island, where most have
reddish-brown hair (AFP Photo/HANDOUT)

A rare albino orangutan has been rescued on the Indonesian part of Borneo island where villagers were keeping the white-haired, blue-eyed creature in a cage, a protection group said Tuesday.

In an extremely unusual discovery, authorities picked up the female, estimated to be five years old, in a remote village in Kapuas Hulu district.

The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF), which is caring for the critically endangered ape -- believed to be albino -- said the organisation had never before in its 25-year history taken in such an orangutan.

Normal Bornean orangutans have reddish-brown hair.

Villagers said they captured the ape -- who has not yet been named -- on Thursday. Authorities rescued the ape two days later.

"Orangutans are rare, and an albino orangutan is even rarer," Nico Hermanu, a BOSF spokesman, told AFP.

"Since BOSF was founded 25 years ago, we had never before taken in an albino orangutan at our rehabilitation centre."

Orangutans on Borneo have seen their habitat shrink dramatically as the

 island's rainforests are increasingly turned into oil palm, rubber or paper 

plantations (AFP Photo/HANDOUT)

Pictures showed dried blood around the creature's nose, with the foundation saying the injury could have been sustained when the ape was fighting the villagers' attempts to capture it.

The orangutan has been taken to BOSF's rehabilitation centre for further assessment. Almost 500 orangutans are kept at the centre.

The Bornean orangutan, which along with the Sumatran orangutan are Asia's only great apes, is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as "critically endangered" -- just one step away from extinction.

Around 100,000 are estimated to live on Borneo, which is divided between Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, down from 288,500 in 1973 and with their numbers expected to shrink to 47,000 by 2025, according to the IUCN.

The creatures have seen their habitat shrink dramatically as the island's rainforests are increasingly turned into oil palm, rubber or paper plantations, and are sometimes targeted by villagers who view them as pests.

A rare albino orangutan rescued in the Indonesian part of Borneo island is recovering well according to its veterinarian pic.twitter.com/P0BlByi26a

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 11, 2017

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Rare albino turtle hatches in Australia

Rare albino turtle hatches in Australia https://t.co/27T6nUnSXW pic.twitter.com/zC23aIqe1Q

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 11, 2016

Related Articles:

Matthew preparing us for the Golden Age – Jan 19, 2012 - Essay on 2012 by Matthew (Channeller: Suzy Ward)

“..  Animals in the wild will instinctively know not to overpopulate and those that are   carnivorous will turn to the plant kingdom for sustenance.  The albinos being born in several animal species have both spiritual and transitional significance.  You associate white with peace, and these rarities that are appearing are symbolic of the coming changes in animal nature that will end the predator-prey food chain and restore the peaceable relationship that once existed among all species, including humankind.  The instances of unlikely cross-species friendships and even nurturing of the young from one species by mothers of another are more indications of Earth’s return to her original paradise self.  Still, an extremely important factor in this is the inspiration in many souls to be advocates for the animal kingdom and alleviate their manmade plight. …”

Rare encounter: Whale watchers off the Australian east coast were lucky
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Rare albino turtle hatches in Australia

Rare albino sparrow spotted in Australia

Rare albino wallaroos call Aussie race track home
White tiger's coat down to one change in a gene
Pink elephant is caught on camera

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Whale watchers get world's closest encounter yet with Migaloo the albino humpback off the coast of Australia
The real-life Moby Dick: Incredibly rare WHITE humpback whale spotted off coast of Norway

Rare albino sparrow spotted in Australia

Yahoo – AFP, 25 May 2015

An albino sparrow, one of the rarest birds in the world, seen in the outer

Melbourne suburb of Point Cook (AFP Photo/Bob Winters)

A rare pure white sparrow has been spotted in Australia, leaving ornithologists all aflutter.

The albino was photographed at Sanctuary Lakes near Melbourne, but it is not expected to survive long with its snowy white plumage making it stand out to birds of prey.

Bob Winters, a birdwatching expert and environmental educator, photographed the animal after being alerted to its presence by a friend. But it wasn't an easy task.

"It's a very nervous animal, understandably, so I had to try for quite a few days to get some photos," he told AFP, adding that pure white sparrows had been seen globally only "once in a blue moon".

Australian media said there had been a handful of confirmed sightings of the bird across the world, including one reported in Britain in 2010.

Winters judged that the bird was six or seven months old which in itself was an achievement, due to its lack of camouflage and disabilities that come with being a genetic mutation.

An albino sparrow (L), one of the rarest birds in the world, is seen in the

outer Melbourne suburb of Point Cook (AFP Photo/Bob Winters)

"This bird has got so many disadvantages. They usually get kicked out of the nest because they're different and it has fragile feathers that make it quite difficult to fly," he said.

"Probably no-one wants to breed with it, and it's easy pickings for a bird of prey."

Albinism is a recessive characteristic which only shows up when a bird inherits the albino gene from both parents.

It affects all the pigments, with albino birds showing no colour whatsoever. They also have pale pink or reddish eyes, legs, feet and a pale bill.

Rare albino wallaroos call Aussie race track home

Yahoo – AFP, Glenda Kwek, 16 March 2015

An albino wallaroo with a normal coloured joey and adult daughter sit between the

 trunks of eucalyptus gum trees in the Mount Panorama Woodlands near Bathurst

in New South Wales (AFP Photo/Peter Parks)

Bathurst (Australia) (AFP) - "There she is, there she is!" In the distance beyond the outstretched finger of conservation biologist Daniel Ramp stood a rare white animal, rising slowly as her ears stiffened and eyes focused on him.

Nestled below her snowy chest was a brown joey, its head peaking out of a pouch.

The 1.5-metre (4.9-feet) tall albino wallaroo bounded towards the thin trunks of eucalyptus gum trees in the Mount Panorama Woodlands, her light leaps barely breaking the silence of the natural reserve.

Conservation biologist Daniel Ramp heads

 up the Bathurst Kangaroo Project, which is

 trying to protect the rare albino wallaroo

 living near a major grand prix circuit

(AFP Photo/Peter Parks)

Several hundred metres away, the harsh sounds of revving engines echoed as V8 supercars raced around the track of Australia's spiritual home of motor sport in Bathurst, some 300 kilometres (185 miles) west of Sydney.

The white marsupial, believed to be more than four years old and one of only three spotted in the area, has thrilled researchers studying the local kangaroo population -- but there are concerns about the wallaroos' chosen home in the woodlands surrounding the race circuit.

The Bathurst Kangaroo Project, funded by the University of Technology Sydney's Centre for Compassionate Conservation and Bathurst's local council, is keen to reduce the conflict between the animals and race cars.

Mount Panorama is home to the "Bathurst 1000", known as the "Great Race", which takes place in October.

The culling of some 140 kangaroos near the tracks sparked outrage in 2009, while videos of them bounding between cars travelling at almost 200 kilometres (125 miles) per hour have gone viral on YouTube.

Organisers have sought to keep them away by erecting fences but some still get on the track, causing near-misses or crashes.

"We see kangaroos jumping into fences left, right and centre, getting scared," Ramp said, describing how some kangaroos react when stressed by the race and the appearance of thousands of fans.

Unique population

Kangaroos feature on Australia's coat of arms alongside the native emu and are a mix of red, brown and grey colours, with tens of millions across Australia and more than 50 different species.

Wallaroos are slightly smaller, and typically have grey fur.

There have only been a handful of mentions of albino kangaroos in scientific literature and in the media, although zoos have bred them in the past as attractions, said Ramp from UTS.

"This population is unique and we can show very clearly the effects of that albinism," Ramp, who heads up the Bathurst Kangaroo Project, told AFP.

Albino wallaroos are rare in the wild, while zoos have in the past bred

them as attractions (AFP Photo/Peter Parks)

"The albinism is a tip of the iceberg. That's one very visual form of the recessive inbreeding that is occurring... reflective of an inbred population that is closed and has nowhere to go."

The researchers believe the three white wallaroos -- two adult females and a joey -- in the area may be descendents from a male albino brought to Bathurst by Australian philanthropist Sir Edward Hallstrom four decades ago.

Hallstrom -- who was a trustee of Sydney's Taronga Zoo -- donated the wallaroo to a local nature park, although it is not known where he got it from, the park's manager for some 25 years Ian McArtney said.

"The time that I was there, he was the main breeding male, but at no time... did he produce any albino offspring," he added.

But years later, the researchers say recessive genes carried by subsequent generations may have led to the striking creatures' re-emergence.

McArtney said he also saw albinism in smaller-sized red-neck wallabies, but none of them survived for more than a few months as they were preyed on by feral cats and foxes.

Roo-race tensions

Potential solutions to the conflict between the race and wallaroos include moving those trapped in woodlands within the circuit to another area, or changing the fences, kangaroo scientist Ray Mjadwesch said.

As part of the project, Mjadwesch dons a camouflage suit and shoots the roos with tranquilliser darts, tagging them to monitor their movements.

Mount Panorama has been dubbed Australia's spiritual home of motor sport and

is home to the 'Bathurst 1000', known as the 'Great Race' (AFP Photo/Greg Wood)

Listening posts pick up the frequencies emitted by tags every 30 seconds, with the figures painting a picture of where they roam on race days and for the rest of the year.

Twenty kangaroos have been tagged since the project started in May, and Ramp hopes to eventually keep tabs on 10 percent of the population, estimated to be up to 600.

Motion-sensor camera traps document the animals' behaviour, and there are plans to make the data publicly available to get the local community involved.

Ramp and his team are also collecting roo hair samples with the goal of testing their stress levels, after a recent study of wolves in Canada was able to do that using the animals' fur.

The researchers plan to count all the resident kangaroos, including the number of males, females and joeys, to identity the different family groups and how they interact.

Ultimately, they hope to document the pace at which the population is growing and expand their data-collection to other regions, amid conflicting evidence on whether the native creature is in historical decline or at plague proportions.

Four species -- swamp wallabies, red-necked wallabies, wallaroos and eastern grey kangaroos -- have so far been observed at Mount Panorama.

Meet the ‘Zonkey’: Rare Zebra-Donkey Hybrid Draws Crowds in Italy

Jakarta Globe – AFP, November 2, 2013

Ippo, a three month old “zonkey”, a crossing between a zebra and a donkey,
stands in its pen in a reserve in Florence, on October 11, 2013. (AFP Photo)

Florence. An act of love between Martin the zebra and Giada the donkey in the romantic Italian city of Florence has produced a rare “zonkey” baby that is drawing crowds to an exotic animal shelter.

Three-month-old Ippo is already a star and the owners of the farm say they have received requests for rights over his image, including one from a soft-toy company and another from Disney to make a cartoon.

“It is very rare that a zebra and a donkey mate and reproduce,” Serena Aglietti, the daughter of the shelter’s owner, said at the site in central Florence, near the city’s landmark monuments.

The family-run Aglietti farm takes in animals rescued from circuses or owners who treat them badly and houses a motley array of 170 animals including camels, lamas and Vietnamese pigs.

Aglietti explained that on one balmy night last year Martin — who was taken away years ago from a zoo where he was being abused — jumped over the fence of his enclosure.

The lusty Martin used his snout to lift the latch on a stable door where the donkeys were being kept.

There he consummated his love for Giada, a rare Italian Amiata donkey brought to the clinic to be bred.

No one realized what had happened until 12 months later — the length of a donkey pregnancy.

“We were there at the birth. First the black hooves came out, then the striped legs. We were amazed!” Aglietti said.

“He is doing well. He is naughty but is very sweet with children, he is still on milk but also eating carrots,” she said.

The unusual sight at the farm brings hundreds of visitors, who compete for Ippo’s attention and take pictures on smartphones.

“We were curious to see this very sweet animal. It’s very good for children,” said Patrizia, a 67-year-old visiting with her family.

Local resident Fabrizio could not hide his shock.

“This is the first time I see him. It’s not natural but nature made it possible,” he said.

Ippo still looks very much like a zebra-donkey mix — with the stripey legs of a zebra but a donkey’s face.

However, the previous handful of zonkeys around the world — including ones in China, Japan and the United States — show that he could grow up looking more like one than the other.

Ippo is officially a “zebroid” — the name for a cross between a zebra and any other equine.

“Zorse” is the name of a pairing with a horse, “zebrule” with a mule. The zebra-donkey mix is also sometimes known as a “zedonk.”

Aglietti said that by November it will also be clear whether Ippo can reproduce or not but no decision has been taken on breeding him with a donkey or a zebra — or indeed some other animal.

“If he is fertile, he will have the choice of who to mate with among all the animals we have here.”

Agence France-Presse

White tiger's coat down to one change in a gene

BBC News, 23 May 2013

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Records of sightings in the wild on the Indian
sub-continent date back to the 1500s

Chinese scientists have acquired new insights into how white tigers get their colouration.

The researchers have traced the cause to a single change in a gene known to drive pigmentation in a host of animals, including humans.

White tigers are a rare variant of the customary orange Bengal sub-species.

Today, they are found exclusively in captive programmes where the limited numbers are interbred to maintain the distinctive fur colour.

Shu-Jin Luo of Peking University and colleagues report in the journal Cell Biology how they investigated the genetics of a family of tigers living in Chimelong Safari Park in Panyu, Guangzhou Province.

This ambush of tigers included both white and orange individuals.

The study zeroed in on the pigment gene called SLC45A2, which has long been associated with the light colouration seen in some human populations, and in a range of other animals including horses, chickens, and fish.

The team identified a small alteration in the white-tiger version of SLC45A2 that appears to inhibit the production of red and yellow pigments. This change has no effect on the generation of black pigment - explaining why the whites still have their characteristic dark stripes.

A number of the white tigers found in zoos have health issues, such as eyesight problems and some deformities.

However, Luo and colleagues say these deficiencies are a consequence of inbreeding by humans and that the white coats are in no way indicative of a more general weakness in the Bengal variant.

Establishing this fact means that re-introducing them to the wild under a carefully managed conservation programme might be worth considering.

"The last known free-ranging white tiger was shot in 1958, before which sporadic sightings were made in India," the researchers write.

"Reasons for the extinction of wild white tigers were likely the same as those accounting for the dramatic decline in wild tigers in general: uncontrolled trophy hunting, habitat loss, and habitat fragmentation.

"However, the fact that many white tigers captured or shot in the wild were mature adults suggests that a white tiger in the wild is able to survive without its fitness being substantially compromised."

Related Articles:

Matthew preparing us for the Golden Age – Jan 19, 2012 - Essay on 2012 by Matthew (Channeller: Suzy Ward)

“..  Animals in the wild will instinctively know not to overpopulate and those that are   carnivorous will turn to the plant kingdom for sustenance.  The albinos being born in several animal species have both spiritual and transitional significance.  You associate white with peace, and these rarities that are appearing are symbolic of the coming changes in animal nature that will end the predator-prey food chain and restore the peaceable relationship that once existed among all species, including humankind.  The instances of unlikely cross-species friendships and even nurturing of the young from one species by mothers of another are more indications of Earth’s return to her original paradise self.  Still, an extremely important factor in this is the inspiration in many souls to be advocates for the animal kingdom and alleviate their manmade plight. …”

Rare encounter: Whale watchers off the Australian east coast were lucky
enough to see Migaloo, the famous albino humpback whale

Rare albino turtle hatches in Australia

Rare albino sparrow spotted in Australia

Rare albino wallaroos call Aussie race track home

Pink elephant is caught on camera

Rare white killer whale spotted off Russian coast

Whale watchers get world's closest encounter yet with Migaloo the albino humpback off the coast of Australia
The real-life Moby Dick: Incredibly rare WHITE humpback whale spotted off coast of Norway