Rare Albinos Appearing

[Gerard Zwaan]

The White buffalo is an American bison (American buffalo) that is considered to

be sacred signs in several Native American religions,   

An albino snail?

Rare Albino Snail Discovered in New Zealand

New Zealand Department of Conservation

[Scott]

Albino otter spotted near Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

(March 26, 2019)
Alerted by wildlife enthusiasts about an albino otter in a country park in West Lothian, Scotland, Russell Parker set off early one morning to see it for himself. As he stood concealed behind trees along the park river, he saw the otter dive underwater and photographed it when it climbed out onto the branch of a submerged tree.
https://www.facebook.com/westlothiancouncil/posts/10156255976050838
https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/extremely-rare-...

(June 23, 2019)
Presumably the same albino otter can be seen swimming in another river in the same area of Scotland less than 10 miles away, as recorded in a video by trout fisherman Andrew Sutherland and posted to Facebook and Twitter:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=694360137692113
https://twitter.com/asutherland93/status/1143044653454958593

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/watch-as-extremely-rare...

[Scott]

Albino hedgehog spotted on Shetland Islands, United Kingdom (June 22, 2019)

An albino hedgehog was photographed by Lisa Gifford during a walk with a friend in the late night twilight on the Shetland Islands off the northern coast of Scotland. “Something white in the distance caught our eye,” Lisa recalled. “I quickly got my phone out and zoomed in to take a few photos which sadly aren’t the best quality. We kept silent and watched him for a while until he became aware of our presence and turned to head off in the other direction.”

https://www.facebook.com/groups/656490927767577/permalink/234400564...
https://www.shetnews.co.uk/2019/06/26/albino-hedgehog-a-simmer-dim-...
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/highlands/1782580/all-whi...

[Scott]

Albino woodchuck spotted in Lockport, Illinois (June 7, 2019)

An albino woodchuck (aka groundhog) was spotted at the Lockport Prairie Nature Preserve in Lockport, Illinois.
Paul Sevcik said, "I saw this white object along the edge of some tall grass and I stopped to take some photos of it." The woodchuck slowly walked back into the grass after he took the photos.

https://www.reconnectwithnature.org/news-events/the-buzz/extremely-...
https://www.facebook.com/WillCoForests/posts/10157850268095628

[Derrick Johnson]

Rare albino panda is caught on camera roaming around nature reserve in southwest China 

• The rare panda was spotted at the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan, China 
• Bear specialist Li Sheng said albino panda was between one and two years old 
• More than 80 percent of the world's wild pandas live in Sichuan, with the rest in Shaanxi and Gansu 

A rare all-white panda has been caught on camera at a nature reserve in southwest China. 

The spotless, red-eyed animal was photographed while trekking through the forest mid-April in at the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan, 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.

+2

A rare all-white panda has been caught on camera at the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan, China 

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

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 ($1.45 billion) had been budgeted for the Giant Panda National Park in mountainous southwestern China 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.

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7072427/Rare-albino-panda-... 

[Scott]

Albino magpie turned into wildlife sanctuary in Tasmania, Australia (May 24, 2019)

The young male magpie was handed in as a fledgling bird late last year. "It was found at the base of a tree with no possibility of getting back to the nest," operations manager Darren Rumble said. The bird is "an absolute character" and "prefers to be handfed despite being able to feed himself". Keepers say the magpie would not survive in the wild because its white coat would make it a target for predators.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-24/albino-magpie-found-in-tasma...
https://twitter.com/BrendaAksionov/status/1131047426259804160

[Ovidiu Pricopi]

Extremely rare 'blonde' zebra photographed

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/03/rare-partially-a...

[Scott]

Albino penguin makes debut at Polish zoo (March 22, 2019)

A three-month-old albino penguin made its first public appearance at a zoo in the Baltic Sea port city of Gdansk, Poland. The all-white African black-foot penguin was born on December 14, but zoo staff decided to keep its arrival secret as they were unsure the vulnerable newborn would survive. "The baby is active, in good health, eats well and, what's very important, its parents are taking very good care of it," the director of the Gdansk Zoo said. Its keepers claim it is the only one of its kind in captivity.

https://phys.org/news/2019-03-rare-albino-penguin-debut-zoo.html
https://www.facebook.com/zoogdansk/posts/2020607801370494
https://www.independent.ie/world-news/and-finally/rare-albino-pengu...

[Scott]

Albino sparrow recuperating in Cambridge, New Zealand (January 13, 2019)

After being saved from the clutches of a cat's claw, an albino sparrow is recuperating in the capable hands of Robyn Chappell of Bird Rescue Cambridge in New Zealand. The sparrow has been named Luna and is pure white, with pink eyes and legs. It's thought she is a few weeks old as her tail feather is only half grown. If Luna does survive she won't be released back into the wild because she will be vulnerable to attacks from other birds, cats, and dogs.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/109821929/a-rare-albino-sparrow-is...
https://www.facebook.com/cambridgebirdrescue

[Scott]

Rare albino ring seal caught near Pangnirtung, Nunavut, Canada (Dec 23, 2018)

When 67-year-old Inuit hunter Leopa Akpalialuk pulled in the seal nets he laid out on Wednesday in a fjord outside of Pangnirtung, he discovered a small, albino ringed seal with pink eyes, white claws and white fur. "The seal had perished before I could reach it," he said in Inuktitut. Akpalialuk said it isn't unheard of to catch an albino seal, but Inuit traditional knowledge says to "respect and not harvest albinos." He has been displaying the frozen seal at the visitors centre for curious townsfolk since it was caught. He said its fur is very attractive and would make a unique pair of kamiks. "I have it for sale because it is truly unique, otherwise, it would have been our next meal," he said.
Steven Ferguson, research scientist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said he only knows of four cases in all the different seal species around the world. Ferguson has never heard of an albino ring seal discovery, and it may be the only albino seal ever caught in Canada.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/pangnirtung-nunavut-albino-sea...

[Starr DiGiacomo]

https://globalnews.ca/news/4639560/albino-raccoon/?utm_medium=Faceb...

Incredibly rare albino raccoon found in Tennessee backyard

November 7, 2018 11:13 am

An incredibly rare albino raccoon was captured in Tennessee after the trash panda did what the masked animals typically do: wreak havoc in a family’s backyard.

The rare, colourless raccoon was captured late last month after a family in Collierville called company Alpha Wildlife to trap whatever animal was knocking over furniture and getting into bird feeders in their backyard.

Alpha Wildlife co-owner Matthew Caldwell told USA Today he and his partner responded to a call to investigate what sort of animals they were dealing with. The men had a pretty good idea after noticing paw prints that resembled a raccoon on a glass table and deck railings. So, they set up two live traps and left the property for the night.

The following morning, Caldwell said he received a surprising text from his client.

“”Have you ever seen an albino raccoon?” Caldwell said of the message. “I said ‘not in person.'”

Caldwell and business partner David Parrish headed back to the property to find an albino raccoon in one trap, and a typical coon in the other.

“It’s extremely rare,” Caldwell told WREG Memphis. “They say you have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than seeing one of these animals.”

Some reports suggest albinism occurs in mammals in one of every 10,000 births while Caldwell suggested albino raccoons are far less common.

“It was definitely thrilling, I guess you could say,” Caldwell told USA Today. “Some wildlife biologists say one in every 750,000 raccoons are albino. I’d say that’s fairly rare.”

Parrish told WREG he was “a little taken aback” when he first saw the trapped animal.

“I’ve seen albino possums, seen albino deer,” he said. “Never seen an albino raccoon. And for this one to be as big as it is, it’s just kind of a shock.”

Parrish estimated the albino trash panda (the slang term used to describe the critters nowadays) to be about two or three years old.

Alpha Wildlife released both raccoons back into the wild at a state park, north of the county