White opossum in Oklahoma

White possum, from Oklahoma, USA. Credit M Wayne.

This image has been sent to us by M Wayne, from Oklahoma, USA. The opossum is not an albino as albino animals have pink eyes and no colourng at all, so it is almost certainly leucistic.

We also received images of a leucistic opossum in Wisconsin just a few weeks ago, click here to see the images.

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.

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