Albino Animals

An animal that cannot generate the pigment melanin in sufficient quantities suffers from a condition called albinism. In such cases, the skin pigments of these animals turn white, and their eyes become pink or bright blue.

While albino animals have a certain beauty to them, albinism can cause severe problems. White is not a common color in the wild, so albino animals are more susceptible to predation. They are also prone to UV radiation poisoning and may have hearing disorders.

Albino Animals

List of Famous Albino Animals

1. Alba the Orangutan

Alba Orangutan
Alba Orangutan

Alba was rescued when she was five years old from villagers in Borneo, Indonesia, in 2017. Officials found her dehydrated and infested with parasites and nursed her back to health for over two years. She was finally released in 2018 in Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park, a park specializing in protecting orangutans.

2. Alisa the Kangaroo

Alisa Albino Kangaroo
Alisa Albino Kangaroo

A joey named Alisa was born to two Bennett’s tree-kangaroos in Kazan, Russia, in 2021.

3. Claude the Alligator

Claude the Albino Alligator
Claude the Albino Alligator

Hatched on September 15, 1995, in Louisiana, Claude was at severe risk of dying in the wild due to his albinism. He was brought to the California Academy of Sciences, where he is a major attraction.

4. Lightning the Nile lechwe Antelope

Lightning the Nile lechwe Antelope
Lightning the Nile lechwe Antelope

Lightning was born to a female antelope appropriately named Thunder during a stormy night. He is the only albino antelope in Scotland and possibly Britain.

5. Mahpiya Ska the American Bison

Mahpiya Ska the American Bison
Mahpiya Ska the American Bison

Also known as White Cloud, Mahpiya Ska was born on 10th July, 1996, on the Shirek Buffalo Farm in North Dakota. She lived at the National Buffalo Museum in Jamestown, North Dakota, for most of her life, where Native Americans would come to see her. Toward the end of her life, Mahpiya Ska was returned to her birth herd and passed away on November 14, 2016.

6. Manukura the Kiwi

Manukura the White Kiwi
Manukura the White Kiwi

Manukara was a North Island brown kiwi born on May 1, 2011, in the Pukaha / Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre in New Zealand. Her name in Māori means “chiefly status”, which was given to her by the leader of the Rangitāne tribe, Mike Kawana. Initially thought to be male, she was later discovered to be female. She passed away in 2020 after undergoing surgery to remove her ovaries and an unfertilized egg.

7. Migaloo the Humpback Whale

Migaloo Albino Humpback Whale
Migaloo Albino Humpback Whale

While there is some doubt over whether Migaloo is an albino or leucistic, when first spotted in 1991, he was the only known white whale worldwide. In some Aboriginal languages, “Migaloo” means “white fella”.

Migaloo has been given extra protection thanks to his rarity, with large boats and ships fined $16,500 if they come within 500 m of him.

8. Mocha Dick the Sperm Whale

Serving as the inspiration for Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby-Dick, Mocha Dick was a male sperm whale seen in the 19th Century. While usually quite docile, as whaling was common during the period, he would be regularly attacked on sight, thanks to his rarity. He was finally slain in 1838, as per explorer Jeremiah N. Reynolds who gathered first-hand accounts of the great beast and published them as a book.

9. Mok the Barking Deer

Albino Barking Deer
Albino Barking Deer

Mok was an albino barking deer born in the Dusit Zoo.

10. Onya-Birri the Koala

Onya-Birri the Koala
Onya-Birri the Koala

The second albino koala born in the San Diego Zoo, Onya-Birri was born to the koala Banjeeri. His name means “ghost boy”.

11. Pinky the Bottlenose Dolphin

Pinky the Bottlenose Dolphin
Pinky the Bottlenose Dolphin

A rare wild albino animal, Pinky was first spotted by a boat captain, Erik Rue, in 2007 in Calcasieu Lake, Louisiana. She has since given birth, with her calf also being an albino.

12. Ruby the Lobster

Ruby Albino Lobster
Ruby Albino Lobster

Ruby, the albino lobster, lives in the Great Yarmouth Sea-Life Centre. The chances of an albino lobster are one in a million.

13. Snowflake the Gorilla

Snowflake the Gorilla
Snowflake the Gorilla

Arguably one of the most famous albino animals, Snowflake, was captured by a farmer from the Fang tribe named Benito Mañé on October 1, 1966, in the Río Muni region in Spanish Guinea. He would later be sent to a zoo in Barcelona in November of the same year, remaining until he died in 2003. Snowflake would have a huge cultural impact and would father 22 offspring, none of whom were albino but carry the recessive gene for albinism.

14. Snowdrop the Penguin

Snowdrop the Penguin
Snowdrop the Penguin

Snowdrop, an albino African Penguin, was born at Bristol Zoo in England. No other zoo has an albino penguin; only two or three have been spotted in the wild. The keeper noticed that the other penguins in the same enclosure seemed unaware of Snowdrop’s unique color. Snowdrop passed away in August 2004.

15. White Diamond the Alligator

White Diamond Albino Alligator

The only albino alligator in Europe, White Diamond currently resides at the ‘Serengeti’ Safari park in the northern German village of Hodenhagen. While he was born in Louisiana in the U.S. and grew up in Florida, eventually, he was sent to a traveling reptile show.

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