Albino's, Leucistic's & Rarities.......Oh My!

About This Group

This group is for those oddities that Mother Nature bring to us. Albinism & Leucism are what we would like to focus on the most. YOU CAN JOIN WITHOUT A SUBMISSION, THIS IS TO EDUCATE YOU ABOUT THE DIFFERENCES

The differences are:

►"Leucism":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucism differs from albinism in that the melanin is, at least, partially absent but the eyes retain their usual color. Some leucistic animals are white or pale because of chromatophore (pigment cell) defects, and do not lack melanin.

►"Albinism":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albinism is a congenital disorder characterized by the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes due to absence or defect of an enzyme involved in the production of melanin. The eyes of an albino animal appear red because the colour of the red blood cells in the underlying retinal blood vessels shows through where there is no pigment to obscure it.

►"Melanism":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanism is the direct opposite of albinism. An unusually high level of melanin pigmentation (and sometimes absence of other types of pigment in species that have more than one) results in an appearance darker than non-melanistic specimens from the same gene pool.

Examples would be Luecistic Flycatchers, Albino bison, etc. Oddities would be a dark morph of something that would normally be seen and known as a lighter color. We are looking for the fur and feather color aberrations as well as natural defects that do not hinder the animal or bird. Something that has survived all odds due to their special pigment or lack there of.

I am NOT looking for the albino rats, mice, or zebra finches. Those are not a rarity, but bred for that appearance. However white tigers and lions will be accepted. They too are bred for the appearance but are not nearly as common. Last know count in 2004 was 30 white lions in the world. I also feel that it would limit the group participation to not except these two species. Any questions, feel free to contact me

My goal is to build up a special place that we can share these rare captures. To have discussions about what we find and where it was found. Though I would prefer not to have zoo captures, I will except them if they are not behind bars. Meaning that I want to see the rarity in ALL its beauty to really appreciate it. Bars on a “white” animal will not allow other group members to admire the capture to it’s fullest potential.

_{Born in January 2010}

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