Watch: 'Beyond rare' white alligator born at Florida park

Ben Hooper
·1 min read
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Dec. 7 (UPI) -- An alligator park in Florida announced the rare hatching of a solid white leucistic alligator at the facility.

Gatorland Orlando announced in a Facebook post that the hatchling is the first solid white alligator to be documented since a nest of leucistic gators were discovered in Louisiana about 36 years ago.

"This is beyond rare, it is absolutely extraordinary and the first one in the world," the post said.

Park officials said only seven leucistic alligators are known to still survive in the world, and three are housed at Gatorland.

Leucism is a rare genetic condition in alligators. The condition "causes white coloration, but they often have patches or splotches of normal coloration on their skin. Without the darker skin pigmentation, they can't have direct sunlight for long periods of time because they sunburn easily," Gatorland said.

Leucistic alligators are different from albino alligators, which completely lack pigment and have pink eyes instead of the bright blue eyes sported by their leucistic counterparts.

The female baby, and her normal-colored brother, will go on public display early next year, the park said.