An Albino Deer

[ohdear]

In an effort to contribute something other than a photo of what turned out to be a dead rat, I thought this might be of interest. If you squint, you may be able to spot an albino deer in this photo, taken by a friend of mine.

Are they common?

[mbaldw]

That's a herd of Fallow deer (Dama dama) and white individuals are relatively common, although albinos are rare. I can't tell from that picture whether the animal in question is an albino, but I suspect it's probably a regular (non-albino) white morph. Among Fallow there is also a very dark (melanistic) morph, that is generally uncommon, but can be locally abundant.

Definitely a more interesting photo than one of a dead rat

Cheers,
Marc.

[Farplace]

Albino or not, its a lovely deer. And for the record, I liked your dead rat. Different anyway!!

[ohdear]

Originally Posted by mbaldw

That's a herd of Fallow deer (Dama dama) and white individuals are relatively common, although albinos are rare. I can't tell from that picture whether the animal in question is an albino, but I suspect it's probably a regular (non-albino) white morph. Among Fallow there is also a very dark (melanistic) morph, that is generally uncommon, but can be locally abundant.

Definitely a more interesting photo than one of a dead rat

Cheers,
Marc.

Thanks for the info Marc, I will find out if my friend got a closer look at it than his camera phone did. I certainly wasn't aware of the distinction and suspect he may not be either.

[nursiebernard]

Lovely photo