ANIMALS
Gatorland Announces Hatching Of Extremely Rare Leucistic Alligator With White Skin And Blue Eyes
Gatorland Orlando/Facebook
Florida’s Gatorland park on Thursday announced the hatching of an extremely rare leucistic alligator with white skin and blue eyes, and is asking the public to help name her.
Leucistic alligators differ from albino alligators, which feature pink eyes and a complete lack of pigment. Leucism produces a white coloration, but leucistic alligators can have patches of normal skin coloration. They also have blue eyes.
For the first time since a nest of leucistic alligators was discovered in the swamps of Louisiana 36 years ago, we have the first birth of a solid white alligator ever recorded from those original alligators, Gatorland Orlando said in a post of Facebook.
Now there was 18 of these brothers who were born in the swamps of Louisiana back in 1987, Gatorland President and CEO Mark McHugh said in a video shared on Facebook. There’s only seven of them left in the world; three of them are right here at Gatorland.
A fully white baby has now been hatched from that leucistic lineage for the first time. The video shows the tiny white female, who hatched alongside a normally colored brother, born to parents Jeyan and Ashley.
Both baby alligators can be seen getting checked out by veterinarians. They are currently 49 centimeters long, just under 20 inches, and weigh in at 96 grams.
Gatorland is asking the public to visit their social media pages to submit name ideas for both new hatchlings.
Submit names for this beautiful little brother and sister! Help us name these awesome alligators, McHugh said.
The young alligators are still being monitored by staff behind the scenes to ensure their health and growth, but are expected to be on display early next year.
TMX contributed to this article.
