While “black” deer, more accurately referred to as melanistic deer, are very rare across North America, it seems they are being spotted more frequently in central Texas. A few weeks ago I posted some photos of a melanistic buck in Austin, Texas, but it seems that animal is not the only white-tailed deer in the area with a color abnormality. Just check out the photos of these twin white-tailed deer fawns that were taken in the Northwest Hills area of Austin. 

Dr. John Baccus, director of the wildlife ecology program at Texas State University, has been studying melanistic deer for over 13 years now. And as it turns out, Texas is a good place to study the dark colored deer. That’s because there just happens to be more black deer in eight Texas counties than in the rest of the world combined!

And as staggering as that statistic may be, most Texans still haven’t seen one! There may be more abnormally dark white-tailed deer in the central part of Texas than everywhere else combined, but don’t go there expecting to see one. Dr. Baccus had this to say about Texas’ melanistic deer:

“Even though we have more melanistic deer here than in the whole world, they’re still extremely rare. It’s the rarest of the white-tailed deer, even rarer than the big-antlered deer. I get the harvest records every year from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and generally, there are fewer than five of these melanistic deer that are harvested in any given year.”

When it comes to white-tailed deer, we all know how they are supposed to look. But ocassionally we get genetic abnormalities and end up with something totally different — which is usually white (albino) or even more rare, black. All mammals, including white-tailed deer, can have black fur and these animals are referred to as melanistic. They are called melanistic because their body produces too much melanin, a dark pigment that causes their hair to be very dark brown or black.

Melanistic whitetails are the most rare color abnormality that deer can have – even more rare than piebald or albino deer. The photos seen here were sent to me and they allegedly came from somewhere around Austin, Texas. The photos are that of a melanistic white-tailed buck. The pictures where taken in a residential area so this rare buck may have lucked out. 

Anyone that has spent any amount of time chasing white-tailed deer has always wondered what deer are doing out there on a day to day basis. You’ve probably thought about this more than once after attempting to chase down a big buck you spotted earlier in the year. But what about white deer, particularly albinos?

Deer have a hard enough life as it is, but being a white deer in the woods would not be an advantage — except during the winter in snow-covered areas. As such, nature has virtually eliminated the color white from a white-tailed deer except for the underparts of the body. It’s just not an advantage to be totally white in the woods with coyotes, mountains lions, and hunters running around chasing after you! With that said, I’m always interested to see pictures of albino deer, but I’ve never seen a live one.

Usually, I end up with photos of albino deer. And here are a couple I received via email. I’m not sure where they were taken, but judging from the physical aspects of these animals (and the snow) these albino deer photos were taken somewhere in the northern US or Canada. This is all I have:

“Tim made the deer feeder with the ‘Browning’ logo. These twin albinos have been coming to our backyard since they were fawns in 2006. We have been trying to capture a digital pic of them for awhile, but they arrive at dusk or even later and they don’t turn out. On Friday about 10 am they arrived.”

More Albino Deer Photos:

We all know what normally colored white-tailed deer look like. Sure, the color of their hair may change seasonally, and even vary a bit between individual deer, but whitetails tend to be some shade of brown combined with white on the throat, belly, and under the tail. However, some color variations exists, and here they are: (more…)

Albino deer. Every deer hunter has heard of one or at least thought about seeing one, but what’s the deal with albino white-tailed deer? Among the questions most often asked is “what causes some whitetail deer to be albinos?” Well, although albino deer a rare for the most part, albinism is not.

Albinism is a recessive trait found in many animals including mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and even plants! Albino animals do not have the gene for normal coloration and do not produce the enzyme responsible for skin, hair, and tissue coloration. The result of this genetic oddity is the total absence of body pigment. (more…)

A piebald is an animal, usually a horse, that has a spotting pattern of large white and black patches. The colour of the horse’s skin underneath its coat may vary between black (under the black patches of hair) and pink (under the white patches). The colouring is generally asymmetrical. Many animals also exhibit coloration of the irises of the eye that match the surrounding skin. This condition also occurs in white-tailed deer.

A genetic variation (defect) produces the piebald condition in white-tailed deer, not parasites or diseases. Piebald deer are colored white and brown similar to a pinto pony. Sometimes they appear almost entirely white. In addition to this coloration, many have some of the following observable conditions: bowing of the nose (Roman nose), short legs, arching spine (scoliosis), and short lower jaws. This genetic condition is rare with typically less than one percent of white-tailed deer being affected.

Read article: Residents Fawning Over Rare Deer

Here are some photos of an albino white-tailed deer that I came across. And the really odd thing is not only is being albino rare, but the fact that this is actually a mature buck is a miracle! This buck can be identified as an albino deer — and not a piebald deer — by examining both his eyes and nose. Check them out.

The pink eye and the pink nose are textbook signs that this deer is an albino. At first glance, I noticed the brown on his head and near the base of the antlers and thought that maybe this was not an albino, but then I realized that the brown color comes from the buck rubbing his antlers (on trees).

Albino Buck Pics:

Albino white-tailed deer may be neat to see, but did you know that a true albino occurs in only one of out of 100,000 births and very few fawns survive beyond the first year of life? It’s true. For an albino deer to live over seven years is extremely unusual — almost unheard of.

The albino whitetail buck seen above is a true albino. In cases of true albinism, albino deer lack of pigmentation in the hair, skin, and, in the case of deer, the iris of the eyes, pink or blue, and the hoofs a pale gray. In some areas, albino deer are even protected by law. However, most states do not protect deer with color abnormalities.