Rare white moose caught on video in Sweden

AUGUST 14, 2017

by Chuck Bednar

If there’s one thing science enthusiasts love, it’s getting a glimpse of a hard-to-find creature, and a new video that has gone viral this month shows a rare white moose – believed to be just one of an estimated 100 living in Sweden – as it walks through the grass and wades across a stream.

The video, which was posted by BBC News, explained that the white moose – which was spotted in the Varmland province of western Sweden – is not albino. Rather, its white coat is the result of a genetic mutation which causes it to be born with an predominantly unpigmented coat of fur.

This condition is known as piebaldism, and according to the US National Library of Medicine, it occurs a creature lacks the cells that produce melanin (the pigment which produces hair, skin and eye color). Piebaldism can affect humans, as well as horses, dogs, pigs, cats, birds and cattle.

The term piebaldism dates back to the 16th century, and was a combination of the word ‘magpie’ and the older meaning of the term ‘bald’ (‘spotted’ or ‘white’) in reference to the magpie’s black and white colored plumage. Unlike albino creatures, piedbald animals do not have red eyes, and they often have at least some blackish specks or patches of fur mixed into their coats.

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Five rare white killer whales spotted together in a sign of dangerous inbreeding

'To have five – or up to eight – in one area of the Russian north-western Pacific, is an indication that there may well be inbreeding issues there'

Ian Johnston Science Correspondent 

Thursday 1 September 2016

At least five white orcas have been spotted in the north-west Pacific in a sign that they could be becoming dangerously inbred, researchers have said.

Killer whales, as they are also known, are usually black and white but white ones have occasionally been seen before.

However, they are usually lone, immature animals and it is thought they have a tendency to die young as the trait can be associated with health problems.

Now researchers are concerned that at least one group of the apex predators are starting to struggle after between five and eight white orcas were seen in August last year off Russia's Kuril Islands, north of Japan.

Their findings have just been revealed in an academic paper in the journal Aquatic Mammals.

Erich Hoyt, who works with the Far East Russia Orca Project and who spotted Iceberg in 2010 and 2015, toldThe Independent their most significant finding was the number of white orcas in the group.

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Only known white killer whale sighted by scientists for first time since 2012

Helena Horton 

1 SEPTEMBER 2016 • 1:06PM

An extremely rare white killer whale - the first adult of its kind ever spotted - has been rediscovered by scientists.

The whale, who they have named Iceberg, was sighted off the coast of Russia's Kuril Islands.

It was spotted by American researcher Erich Hoyt, 65, of the Far East Russia Orca Project. He has just released a paper on the white Orcas in Russia, and detailed his sighting of the aquatic mammal.

Iceberg was last spotted in 2012, and seems to be still enjoying a healthy life in its pod.

Just one-in ten thousand killer whales, also known as Orcas, are completely white.

The 22-year-old whale is the only adult Orca to have been spotted in the wild.

Young white killer whales are sometimes seen in the wild, but they usually die before they reach adulthood.

Orcas usually live to around 30, but can survive until 50 or 60. They mature at 15.

Iceberg was last seen was spotted off the coast of Kamchatka in eastern Russia.

Erich Hoyt spotted him the first time, too, and told the BBC at the time: "We've seen another two white orcas in Russia but they've been young, whereas this is the first time we've seen a mature adult.

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