Piebald deer 12

By definition, an albino deer is totally absent of body pigment and is solid white with pink eyes, nose, and hooves. Often confused with an albino, a piebald deer is slightly more common and is also a genetic mutation. Piebald deer can have varying amounts of white hair. Some piebald deer can be almost pure white except small patches of regular brown hair, while others carry just patches of white hair with otherwise normal markings. Otherwise, an albino or piebald white-tailed deer will have the normal characteristics of other white-tailed deer.

 

Albinism is a recessive genetic trait that is found in animals where the gene responsible for hair, tissue, or skin coloration is missing. By definition, this is why they have no body pigment. Since albinism and piebaldism are recessive traits, both parents must carry the trait to have albino or piebald offspring. The genes responsible for piebald and albino deer are not dominant and oftentimes the deer carrying these genes are biologically inferior to others in the deer herd.

 

So if an albino buck were to breed a doe that is not, they could only have an albino offspring if she carried the recessive genes for albinism. These offspring would carry the recessive gene but would have normal pigmentation. When two whitetails breed that carry the recessive genes, they have around a 25 percent chance of producing an albino fawn. Research says that your chances of seeing an albino in the wild are about one in 30,000, although there are some areas in the north that seem to have higher occurrences of true albino whitetails.

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Uploaded on January 11, 2025
Taken on January 11, 2025