Wednesday 2 December 2009

I Have Mention Albinoisum In The Past On Our Blog,

but these cute little critters are not albinos,

they have a genetic condition known as leucism, which means they have a reduction in all types of skin pigment, they were found in swamp land by a Louisiana fisherman and have now been given a new home in a New Orleans Zoo, at the moment they weigh just over 14 pounds, they now join the other 10 white gators at Audubon Zoo, so I guess there must be some local precursor that produces an over abundance of them,

'They were found in the Mandalay National Wildlife Refuge near Houma in Louisiana and were handed to us by the state Wildlife and Fisheries department, this is the same area where our original 18 white gators were recovered in 1987, of which 10 have survived' said Sarah Brunette, Audubon Zoo's director of communication,

leucistic alligators rarely last long in the wild, their bright appearance makes them easy pickings for birds of prey and large fish in the swamplands of Louisiana, that is true of any albino animal as well, now here is the question for today, should a wild population of leucistic or albino animals or birds be left to take their chances in the wild or spend the rest of their lives locked in a cage?

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