Albino Animals
Most humans and many animals with albinism appear white or very pale; the multiple types of melanin pigment are responsible for brown, black, gray, and some yellow colorations. In some animals, especially albinistic birds and reptiles, ruddy and yellow hues or other colors may be present on the entire body or in patches (as is common among pigeons), due to the presence of other pigments unaffected by albinism such as porphyrins, pteridines and psittacins, as well as carotenoid pigments derived from the diet. Some animals are white or pale due to chromatophore (pigment cell) defects, do not lack melanin production, and have normal eyes; they are referred to as leucistic.
The eyes of an animal with albinism occasionally appear red due to the underlying retinal blood vessels showing through where there is not enough pigment to cover them. In humans this is rarely the case, as a human eye is quite large and thus produces enough pigment to lend opacity to the eye, often colouring the iris pale blue. However, there are cases in which the eyes of an albinistic person appear red or purple, depending on the amount of pigment present.
The albinistic are generally (but see related disorders below) as healthy as the rest of their species, with growth and development occurring as normal, and albinism by itself does not cause mortality (though the lack of pigment is an elevated risk for skin cancer and other problems.) Many animals with albinism lack their protective camouflage and are unable to conceal themselves from their predators or prey; the survival rate of animals with albinism in the wild is usually quite low. However the novelty of albino animals has occasionally led to their protection by groups such as the Albino Squirrel Preservation Society.
as long as people and places like this continue to label people and animals with albinism as an oddity or bizarre, PEOPLE with albinism will have struggles- are you aware that in tanzania, people with albinism are hunted and killed for their body parts? they’re considered ”lucky” by healers and witchdoctors. imagine, your 5 yr old daughter, beheaded and arms cut off, because she’s albino…
bizarre, right? and oddity, right?
KNOW WHAT YOU’RE SPREADING, PEOPLE.
it’s a genetic disorder, not a bizarre thing or an oddity.
please.
nice picture… but i agree with Mom to Albinistic Daughter
Agreed wholeheartedly Mom, If people regard albino’s to oddities or strange, the stigma of being different will never cease as well as the misunderstandings albino humans suffer, just look at the cases in Africa due to lack of education and people fueling the fire by acting as though they are an oddity. Much to the same chagrin Racists use to ‘brainwash’ their offspring into thinking that a person of opposing colors is a ‘threat’ or monstrosity, applies to albinos thus it never changing from generation to genartion when in this day and age all people should be considered equals, no matter race or religion.
A genetic disorder can be bizarre and an oddity.
When something is not the norm it’s ‘odd’.. deal with it and move on.
Yeah, Albinism IS odd and different. Nobody is saying its wrong in anyway, just uncommon. I’m sure your daughter will come to acknowledge how her body is different and become perfectly fine with it. Besides, these animals are much more beautiful that their colored counterparts!
I agree with the mother, Albinos should be hunted down and chopped up. That squirrel kicked ass though.