Get this: one in every 20,000 people is born with albinism. Ya know, that condition when the body doesn’t produce enough melanin, giving the skin, hair, and eyes a pretty much complete lack of color. While it’s pretty rare in humans, it’s even harder to find in the animal kingdom. But they do exist. So if you’ve never seen an albino dolphin, squirrel, or crow – you’re in for a treat! Let’s start with a Horse of a different color, well maybe just, you know, white.
Albino horses are born completely white and stay that way their whole life. The really cool thing about them is that they don’t have reddish eyes, unlike most mammals such as mice and rabbits. Albino horses see the world through their brown or light blue eyes and have unpigmented skin. This makes some experts believe they’re actually just white, and not 100% albino.
Deer Being an albino can be both a curse and a blessing for a deer. You see, when you lose your camouflage, it’s much harder to hide from predators in the woods when you can be seen from miles away. On the other hand, their beauty and grace stop most hunters from killing them since many people actually consider white deer off-limits.
There’s even a legend that killing an albino deer will bring you bad luck. I’m guessing the legend was probably started by the albino deer themselves! Turtle Now, sea turtles have long been on the endangered species list, and albino sea turtles are so rare that anytime their pictures appear online, they go viral.
In 2016, a group of volunteers spotted a turtle nest on Castaways Beach in Queensland, Australia. There were 122 baby turtles on it, and they left the nest, leaving one albino baby behind. The volunteers called that turtle Alby, and it quickly became an Internet star. Alligator Regular alligators are common in the swamps of the southeastern states.
And no one really dreams of meeting one face-to-face, right? I’m guessing they both bite about the same! But albino alligators are incredibly rare as there’s only around 20 of them in the world. Similar to deer, their yellowish white skin makes them an easy target for predators, so they don’t live too long.
Their skin is also highly sensitive to sunlight. The most famous albino alligator was called White Diamond, and it lived in Germany’s Serengeti Park. He was transported there from Louisiana to become part of a traveling reptile show. Owl This majestic creature looking straight out of the Harry Potter movies was found in 2016.
Because their skin and feathers lack color, the eyes of an albino owl look bright red, and you can literally see through the iris to the blood vessels inside. Whooo would’ve known?! Squirrel Only one squirrel in 100,000 is born white, so spotting one is a rare stroke of luck. They’re an easy catch for hawks given that they’re highlighted white against the grass and leaves.
So many of the survivors actually enjoy living in towns among grey squirrels and humans. Ladybug If you ever find an albino ladybug, it’s likely a 15-Spotted Lady Beetle or Ashy Grey Lady Beetle. Yes, they have names. They can also get darker with time. Even regular ladybugs are believed to bring good luck, and the effect is supposedly even stronger with unique albino ones.
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