Rare Pink Hippo Leucism

Check out the National Geographic gallery of this rare pink hippo. Apparently having leucism is actually a sort of technically more extreme form of being an albino model, but it tends to manifest as a more mild condition. Albinism means lacking melanin in the skin, while leucism means the skin produces less of all pigments. On average, leucism has less of an impact on the impacted animal and tends not to make the flesh as pale as albinism. This rare pink hippo, photographed in Kenya, is darker complected than an albino hippopotamus would be. Scientists worry that it may be more susceptible to sunburn than its standard-issue hippo brethren, but overall it seems to be a happy hippo as it mugs for the camera.

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Posted by Amelia G on September 30, 2010. Filed under Happenings, Headline, Oddities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry