colour variations

[pheonix]

ive just looked at the picture of a melanistic pheasant that helen has taken, and also pictures of albino starlings and black birds in the Gallery.

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?

[henrya]

Quote
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?
Endquote

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

[pheonix]

thanks for that

come to think of it i have seen pictures of leucistic lizards. it would be interesting to see erythrism in animals.

does anyone know if these colour variations are more common in certain species or groups of animals?

[henrya]

I think it's very difficult to measure how common the occurrence of colour variation is, because we rarely have an accurate measure of total population size.

Another factor that confuses things is that oddly coloured animals become 'famous' and can seem more common than they really are.

I've read several reports of albino Hedgehogs, hear regularly of black Grey Squirrels (but Cambridgeshire is the hotspot for these), seen black Rabbits, my neighbour had an infestation of Wood Mice with white feet and half white tails a few years ago. When I visited the Norwich Museum some years ago, they didn't have a specimen of an ordinary Mole - all they had were white ones, apricot ones and a half black, half white one!

Black Squirrels were deliberately introduced, and black rabbits were prized as far back as medieval times for the fur, and were presumably deliberately bred.

henrya

[Helen]

There is a "white" red kite in Wales. Not sure how long it's been around, but I suspect most "odd" coloured birds/mammals don't last too long, as they stand out more than the normal coloured birds/mammals, thus making them an easy target for predators.

[nightshade]

Most of the white animals and birds I have seen have been short lived ,a white hedgehog died from pneumonia and the white crows were daily driven
away by normal crows until they died
However the same crow parents have two sets of offspring where the undersides of the wings are predominately white,there is a blackbird that has had a territory here for years whose feathers were every other one white,its offspring which it tolerates have occasional white wing feathers

[Tragus]

There is a higher predominance in Shropshire of Erythristic Badgers, whereas the typical badger is black and white, the black is replaced by a rufous or gingery red in these Erythristic badgers. You can also get albino badgers, usually cream of off-white in appearance, although I have never seen one of those yet!

We have had Erythristic badgers in care at our Rescue Centre and they are generally the same as the 'normal' badgers. Incidentally my first ever sighting of a badger in the wild was an Erythristic!!!! I have a photgraph of one, but as yet no scanner, but I will try and upload a picture soon
Tragus

[nightshade]

That clears up a mystery for me I had seen an animal that looked like a badger for shape and size ,it was running and the coat was a rich goldy-ginger,then it disappeared amongst the oaks and beeches never to be seen again

[Tragus]

Here you go Phoenix....
A not very good scanned photo of an Erythristic badger.

Hope this works!
Tragus

[pheonix]

thanks very much, where is this picture from? do you work in a wildlife santuary?