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Leucism and Leucistic Birds & Animals & other Colour Variations
01/04/2008 16:52:40
Leucism (or Leukism)
Leucism is a very unusual condition whereby the pigmentation cells in an animal or bird fail to develop properly. This can result in unusual white patches appearing on the animal, or, more rarely, completely white creatures.  Albinism is a different condition. The easiest way to tell the difference between the two is that in albinism the eyes are usually pink or red, and albinism affects the entire animal, not just patches. This occasionaly causes very excited biologists to think they have discovered a new species, when in fact leucism is the cause of the unusual markings they have seen. XanthochroismBirds can show this condition in one of two ways: either there is an excess of yellow in the plumage or the yellow replaces another colour (in this instance the red). The condition has been reported in a number of species, including other species of woodpecker (in North America), and in many instances the colour replaced is red. White giraffe seen in Botswana.
Send us your photos of any leucistic, albino, melanistic, xanthocristic or erythrisctic animals or birds and we will add them to gallery. white humpback whale calf  White Humpback whale calf, just a few weeks old, spotted off Queensland.
White whale Humpback calf off Queensland | BTO want records of all birds in UK with unusual plumageFrom time to time you may encounter a bird with plumage that is rather different from that which would be typical for the species. Some of these abnormalities may result from abnormal feather growth or feather loss, while others may be a consequence of problems with pigmentation. Birds with odd plumage? BTO want to know about your sightings |
Albino bat  Doug Mackenzie Dodds managed to snap this remarkable photo of an albino bat in his garden
Albino bat photo | recent sightings of leucistic birds and animals | albino crow in india? Wildlife Extra is not sure if this bird is an albino, or leucistic (or even a crow?). Albino creatures would normally have pink (or red) eyes, but this bird doesn't.
White crow in Satna, India | albino squirrels in yorkshire It is thought that there is a family of albino squirrels in Guisborough Forest in Yorkshire
Click Albino squirrels in Yorkshire for more
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leucistic buffalo in south africa  Two white buffalo calves have been born on the same reserve in South Africa.
White buffalo calves on South African reserve | unusual sightings  There are many absolutely fantastic photographs of leaping dolphins, hunting lions and flocks of flamingos, but this section is dedicated to those photographs that show something just a little bit different.
See more unusual wildlife sightings
| Black adder spotted in Kent This melanistic, black adder was seen in north-east Kent.
More details | More leucistic birds |
Greater spotted woodpecker with Yellow vents This lovely image was taken in Cheshire, UK, by Sheila Blamire. The woodpecker has unusual colouring and is probably displaying Xanthochroism
Click Great spotted woodpecker with unusual colouring in Cheshire for more | Albino Killer whale?  Very unusual white orca photographed off Alaska.
More |
Migaloo, the albino Humpback whale Not seen for 2 years, Migaloo - bigger than a truck and iridescent white - made his annual migration north past Cairns unnoticed.
First seen in 1991, Migaloo is thought to be in his mid 20's. Read the full story » | Albino otter seen in Scotland A very unusual albintter has been seen, and photographed, in the north of Scotland.
Click here to see and read more about the albino otter |
Leucistic laysan albatross chick - video About 70 percent of the world's population of Laysan Albatrosses nests on Midway. The IUCN-World Conservation Union lists the species as globally vulnerable to extinction.
Leucistic Laysan albatross - Photo and video
| More leucictic birds and animals |
White red kite at gigrin farm This unusual white Red kite is sometimes seen at the Gigrin Farm Red kite feeding station.
Click The white kite of Gigrin Farm
| Leucistic woodpecker in Massachusetts The Hairy woodpecker is widespread and common in North America.
Leucistic Hairy woodpecker in Massachusetts |
leucistic cory's shearwater 
Second record for the species.
Click Leucistic Cory's shearwater chick on the Madeira Archipelago for more | White giraffe in the Kruger
Another giraffe with very light colouration has been reported to us, this time from the Kruger in South Africa. White giraffe seen in the Kruger Park |
The 'Blonde' hedgehogs of Alderney The island of Alderney has an exceptionally high incidence of leucistic hedgehogs, with some 25% of the population being white!
Click Alderney's 'blonde' hedgehogs for more | White fallow deer in the forest of dean This white fallow buck was seen repeatedly in the Forest of Dean until recently, but hasn't been seen for a while (Moved on or shot perhaps?).
See more pictures |
White elk in utah
These te elk were seen in Utah, USA. Are they leucistic, or albino? White elk in Utah - Leucistic or albino? | White turkey in Texas This turkey was seen in Texas. Is it a leucistic Rio-Grande turkey, or an escaped domestic White Holland?
White turkey in Texas |
leucistic bald eagle in oregon This Bald eagle with unusual colouring was seen and photographed in southern Oregon.
Leucistic Bald eagle from Oregon | Leucistic Oystercatcher in Auckland
A leucistic variable oystercatcher seen in Auckland.
See more about the white oystercatcher |
Leucistic white tail deer Leucistic white tailed deer, seen in Maryland, USA.
Click Leucistic white-tailed deer in Maryland, USA to read more | Leucistic opossums  More leucistic opossum from the USA.
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Albino fallow deer in Lincolnshire An albino fallow deer has been photographed in Lincolnshire.
Click Albino fallow deer spotted in Lincolnshire for more. | leucistic Chamois in Spain This Chamois, with unusual colouring, has been seen in Northern Spain.
Click Leucistic chamois photographed in Spain for more. |
Leucistic baboons of the Luangwa Valley. Another reader, Steve Tolan, of the Chipembele Wildlife Education Centre has also seen some leucistic baboons inthe Luangwa Valley. There does seem to be a "leucistic hotspot" in the Luangwa, as we have had several reports of different animals from the beautiful part of the world.
Read more » | Leucistic Elephant seals Despite the recent claim by the BBC that a white elephant seal seen in 2008 on Marion Island was the first confirmed sighting of a leucistic elephant seal, one of our readers, Nancy Spruance, has sent us a photo of a leucistic Elephant seal that she saw on Prion Island, off the northeast coast of South Georgia, way back in November 2003.
Read more » |
Albino Fallow deer spotted in Sussex
 Volunteer rescuers had a surprise when they went to rescue a deer that was caught in a rope swing in some Sussex woods. To their amazement the deer, a male fallow deer, was completely white and is thought to be a very rare albino.
Read the full story » | Leucistic crow in the lake district
This very unusual leucistic crow was spotted in a garden in Kendall. All white but with black beak, eyes and legs, it is a very striking bird. Read More |
'Golden' lion of South Luangwa July 2008. Egil Droge has sent us some images of a lion cub with very unusual colouring in the South Luangwa.
Click here to see more images. Golden lion seen again in 2009, more images here. | Leucistic Robin on London's Hampstead Heath This leucistic robin was seen for the first time a few days before Christmas. The almost all-white bird has a patch of red and some brown too but is mostly snowy white.
Details. |
leucustic zebra - Tanzania This photo was sent in by one of our readers; the zebra was seen in Tanzania.
See a larger image | White baboon, impala & Meve's starling One of our readers works in the Luangwa valley, and he has sent us images of a baboon, an impala and a starling with unusual colouration.
See the images |
Leucistic Ibis, Western scrub jay, western kingbird & American robin The following images were all taken by wildlife photographer Paul Higgins.
Click Leucistic Ibis, American robin, Western kingbird and Western scrub jay to see the images. | Twin leucistic moorhens in north west UK The same pond that provided a leucistic moorhen in 2007 has now provided 2 leucistic chicks in 2008, presumably from the same parents.
More |
More leucistic bird specimens | |
leucistic crow Leucistic crow - Keith Marshall. Click leucistic crow for more details. | white impala White 'leucistic' impala seen in South Africa.
Details and more images. |
albino tadpoles Very unusual batches of albino tadpoles found in welsh pond
More details. | albino ratfish A ghostly, mutant ratfish caught off Washington state.
Read more. |
'Snowball' the white baboon This white baboon, probably a leucistic animal, is currently living in South Africa.
More details and photos.
| Leucistic Deer Photographed in early 2008, this leucistic Red deer was seen in the west of Scotland. We have also heard reports of a leucistic deer in the East Midlands.
Read more.
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Leucistic jackdaws April 2008. We recived two reports with photos of leucistc jackdaws in different parts of the UK.
Images and details.
| Leucistic Moorhens In 2007 we received reports and photos of no less than four leucistic moorhens in the UK.
Details and photos.
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Leucistic squirrel
One of our readers sent us a few images of this white squirrel from the North West. Photos and details. | Leucistic Mistle Thrush
This leucistic thrush was seen and photographed in Worcestershire. More details. |
Leucistic buzzard
This white buzzard was seen in Austria early in 2008. More details | Woodpecker showing signs of 'xanthochroism.' A new one on me, but this diagnosis was sent to us by the BTO. This woodpecker was seen on birdfeeders in Yorkshire in 2007.
More details and photos.
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Erythrism
Interestingly in 2006 we were sent photos of an Erythristic badger. Erythrism is apparently a genetic defect that causes plumage/fur to become much more ginger/red than is usual. More details | Leucistic Fallow deer This fallow deer was seen in Scotland by reader Mark Roach.
Click for larger image. |
Albino dolphin off the USA This extremely rare and beautiful ‘pink dolphin' was first spotted in Louisiana.
Read more | White Bearded tit in Lancashire This unusual bird has been seen at the RSPB's Leighton Moss reserve.
Read more. |
Leucistic Great tits. 
Leucistic great tit
| Leucistic egyptian goose in gloucestershire This unusual bird has been seen at WWT Slimbridge.
Read more. |
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Read the comments about this article and leave your own comment
I took this photo of a leucistic Carrion Crow last year in Meadowhall, near Sheffield when on holiday.
www.flickr.com/photos/carol-monger/5963518785/
Posted by: Carol Monger | 20 Jan 2012 14:42:48
Posted by: John Cavassa | 06 Nov 2011 14:15:52
Can any one let me know how to uplod a photo?
Regards
sue
Posted by: Sue North | 05 Aug 2011 10:11:35
I am a part-owner of a private nature reserve near Hoedspruit in South Africa. The reserve contains the Big 5 and for the first time in nearly 20 years our buffalo herd has produced not one but two whie buffalo calves. They are not albinos but leucistic calves.
This is close to the loation of the White lions of Timbavati and no, not the work of a wandering white lion!!
Happy to load photographs but how. I don't see a facility on this link.
Regards
Jim (vgfthoms@global.co.za)
Posted by: Jim Thomson | 06 May 2011 16:01:40
how can i enter a photo of a leucistic warbler i took this weekend?
Posted by: loweryjes | 03 May 2011 22:27:01
It's great to see a site that is promoting the natural beauty of these unique and mesmerizing animals. Too often I read about these creatures in a negative context,(i.e. the ultimate prize for a lifelong hunter), and it lightens my soul knowing others admire them for their place in our natural world. While all the pictures are great, the otter is definitely my favorite!
-Lance
www.birdtricks.com
Posted by: Lance Grimes | 07 Mar 2011 17:05:40
I have captured a Leucistic Dunnock
How do I upload it for you and others to see?please
Posted by: Beryl | 27 Nov 2010 20:36:37
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30394904@N08/5159151751/
Posted by: chuckhastings | 09 Nov 2010 01:20:02
<a href= 30394904@N08/5159151751/"'>www.flickr.com/photos/30394904@N08/5159151751/" title="Unknown Duck by charlie.hastings, on Flickr"><img src= farm5.static.flickr.com/4041/5159151751_ded7a3a38b.jpg" width="469" height="500" alt="Unknown Duck" /></a>
Posted by: chuckhastings | 09 Nov 2010 01:17:43
How do I post an image of this bird?
Posted by: chuckhastings | 09 Nov 2010 01:16:14
I have seen a black & white Blackbird here in Hampshire 3 or 4 times this year. Every time I was waiting at traffic lights so no pics possible; first time I assumed it was a small Magpie from the brief glimpse. The second time it landed in that typical way of a Blackbird with the tail going up nearly vertical before going to the normal position. Course now Blackbirds are noticeable by their absence!
Posted by: Vic | 27 Oct 2010 22:44:59
We have a white bat visiting us in Berkshire.
We first spotted it last year and again this year its back.
Photos on my flickr site:
www.flickr.com/photos/the_black_rabbit/
I hope the URL link below also works.
TBR
www.flickr.com/photos/the_black_rabbit/4956218670/'>[img farm5.static.flickr.com/4149/4956218670_b4666371ed.jpg[/img][/url]
[url www.flickr.com/photos/the_black_rabbit/4956218670/]WHITE BAT[/url] by [url www.flickr.com/people/the_black_rabbit/]THE BLACK RABBIT[/url], on Flickr
Posted by: TBR | 11 Sep 2010 08:39:01
We have a resident leucistic woodpecker that comes every day to our feeded in Hampden Massachusetts, I took some photos and would like to post one of them...
Posted by: Pierre Bessette | 19 Jun 2010 23:59:46
I've just photographed a leucistic oystercatcher in Point Chevalier, Auckland, New Zealand. How do I post the photograph?
Posted by: Andrew Bogle | 13 Mar 2010 21:55:48
How do I give you a photo of a leucistic sparrow that I took in my yard?
Fay Goldie
Posted by: Fay Goldie | 25 Jan 2010 01:11:16