Here are some photos of an albino white-tailed deer that I came across recently. The really odd thing is not only is being an albino mammal rare, but the fact that this is actually a mature buck is a miracle! Natural predators and hunters alike will hone in on oddly colored deer, even in areas where deer management and controlled harvests take place. This whitetail buck can be identified as an albino deer — and not a piebald deer — by examining both his eyes and nose. Take a good look and you can see exactly what I am talking about.

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 buck was not an albino, but then I realized that the brown color comes from the buck rubbing his antlers (on trees). Bucks will commonly rub their antlers once annual antler growth stops to rid themselves of decaying velvet. In addition, this activity helps strengthen their neck and shoulders prior to the breeding season. (more…)

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. And if you think about it, this makes sense for a lot of reasons. First, most of the whitetail’s range consist of habitat that is dominated by the colors green and brown–not white.

Within various wildlife species, animal coloration is based on the process of natural selection. In short, color mutations occur infrequently overall, but if the color variations were well-suited for the environment where they are found, then those “oddly” colored animals would survive to breed and pass on their genes. If the genes cause an animal to stick out, such as a white deer in a primarily green or brown environment, then the animal will be more noticable to predators, including humans. This results in the animal being depredated or harvested. In either case, the color abnormality does not benefit the white animal. (more…)