UPI – Gatorland Orlando in Florida, United States, made an exciting announcement of the extraordinary hatching of a rare solid white leucistic alligator at their facility.
According to a Facebook post from Gatorland Orlando, this hatchling marks the first documented instance of a solid white alligator since a nest of leucistic gators was found in Louisiana approximately 36 years ago. “This is beyond rare, it is absolutely extraordinary and the first one in the world,” the post said.
Park officials said only seven leucistic alligators are known to still survive in the world, and three are housed at Gatorland.
Leucism is a rare genetic condition in alligators. The condition “causes white colouration, but they often have patches or splotches of normal colouration on their skin. Without the darker skin pigmentation, they can’t have direct sunlight for long periods of time because they sunburn easily”, Gatorland said.
Leucistic alligators are different from albino alligators, which completely lack pigment and have pink eyes instead of the bright blue eyes sported by their leucistic counterparts.
The female baby, and her normal-coloured brother, will go on public display early next year, the park said.
