| Re: colour variations
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can anyone clear this up for me? does the animal have no colour pigment at all when it is albino and have all black pigment when melanistic? and are there any other colour variations in animals people no of?
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A true albino vertebrate will have no colour pigmnet in skin, fur, feathers, scales and so will appear white (if it is clean!) and have pink eyes (the blood is still red and shows in the eyes). Thin skinned creatures like frogs may look pink.
Full melanism should lead to an animal that has skin etc totally black, so the Pheasant in the picture is not a full melanic, and I'm not sure if such occurs.
Black Squirrels seem to be full melanics.
There is also erythrism (red colouring) and leucism (yellow colouring) which occasional occur in vertebrates.
I have seen a picture of a bat that had white wings and the rest of it normally coloured, also another bat that had white fur, but the rest normally coloured (not the result of old age, before you ask!).
henrya |