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Leucistic Laysan albatross - Photo and video

12/09/2010 09:23:33

Leucistic Laysan albatross. Photo and video copyright Wayne Sentman.

Wayne Sentman has sent us these images of a leucistic Laysan albatross chick. 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.

Leucism
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

Click here to see our gallery of albino and leucistic animals and birds

Our thanks to Wayne Sentman for these images.

Read the comments about this article and leave your own comment

Orville!

I had been interested in learning about albinism in big cat species and stumbled upon this site. There is a lot of great information here. I can't help but look at this albatross and think of one of my favorite films growing up <a href= en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rescuers">The Rescuers</a>.

Lance

Posted by: Lance Grimes | 07 Mar 2011 16:51:13

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