Some wild creatures are rare, beautiful and a pleasure to behold, while others are rare, odd and a bit weird to behold.
Albinism in wildlife can feel like the latter. Albinism is caused by a lack of the hormone melanin, which creates skin pigmentation. Albino animals have pink skin, scales, claws and eyes, and the syndrome occurs among species as varied as rhinos, kangaroos, koalas, gorillas, alligators, turtles and lions. Local species that display it include squirrels, raccoons, deer, peacocks, hummingbirds and corvids.
The lacy-feathered white peacocks are generally admired, but the white ravens we occasionally see look jarring. I keep hoping to see one, but only one, for they would no longer be remarkable if we saw them every day, and we wouldn’t be able to attach connotations of good (or bad) luck to their sudden appearance. I’d also like to see the young deer which a reader says flits in the moonlight through the gardens on the Lansdowne slope. There are pleasing connotations of ghostliness associated with white creatures, like those attached to the white owls which occasionally skim silently across the peripheral vision of anyone who likes night-walking in Oak Bay.
The feathers of crows and ravens aren’t actually black, but what makes “albino” ones look pale is leucism, a genetic mutation that causes an absence of tyrosinase, an enzyme which bodies need for creating any pigmentation, not only the melanin-based type. Leucism (leukos – white; think of leucocytes, or white blood cells) can only be passed on to offspring if both parents have it. Maybe that’s why it’s most commonly seen in creatures that flock — birds — for instance the pigeons that sweep over the parking lot at the Oak Bay Marina. There’s also a theory that unnaturally pale birds may have a protein deficiency, which may or may not have an epi-genetic effect (changing DNA molecules themselves). The data aren’t in, but birdwatchers seem to see more white crows and ravens in urban than in wilderness areas, which fits the protein deficiency theory when you consider the junk food diet the corvids must be getting by dumpster-dining.
Aboriginal lore offers another explanation: once, when the sun was stolen and darkness fell across the land, Raven found it and brought it back to Earth in his beak. On the long journey back Raven was bleached white by the brightness of the sun he was carrying.
It’s not only humanity that might find albino animals disturbing. Some are rejected by potential mates, which limits how quickly white-skinned characteristics can spread within a species. Unless camouflage in snow or certain plantscapes is an advantage, albinos might also be more easily picked off by predators. On the other hand, their numbers have sometimes been boosted by collectors who have deliberately bred albino strains for zoos and wildlife centres. Artificial environments aside though, natural hazards have kept the white-furred and -feathered creatures rare.
In the case of squirrels the hazards led to the founding of the Albino Squirrel Preservation Society at the University of Texas in 2001, “in pursuit of albino squirrel rights.” Students claimed to believe that seeing a white squirrel on the day of an exam meant getting higher grades, so when the campus’s white squirrel population dropped, students and staff produced flyers, held rallies and hosted squirrel feeding parties. The movement spread but not as far as BC; the society’s closest chapter to us is at the University of Western Ontario.
I haven’t met anyone who has seen a white squirrel locally, but I await the day when the naturalized greys and native reds might inter-breed. What if we saw the first mauves? Maybe we could put aside our virulent red versus grey allegiances and enjoy a magical case of speciation, which some lucky young future Darwin could make a career out of studying.
Barbara Julien is a local writer and nature enthusiast. She writes here monthly about the various species making their home in Oak Bay.