When ranger, Jess Boon, arrived back from morning game drive one day last week talking about a ‘blue-eyed’ elephant calf we all thought that she possibly needed to go on leave after her six week cycle as we could only assume that she was seeing things. With any unusual or great sighting at Londolozi, we all believe that there is no proof without a photo. So with no hesitation, Jess got her camera out to show us and true to her word, she had pictures of a half pink, half grey, blue-eyed elephant.
At first glance this little elephant looks perfectly normal but with further investigation one can notice the pigmentation on its legs.
This truly intrigued me, as it did the entire Londolozi ranging team, so I decided to do some research. This was a much greater task than I originally thought, as there have been no more than a handful of these elephants recorded with this same ‘skin defect’. It is believed that these calves are partially albino. Various gene mutations that affect the production of normal pigmentation is called Albinism. Albinos that are fully white and have characteristic pink eyes due to the lack of melanin are referred to as true or amelanistic albinos. Albinos that are partial, also referred to as blue-eyed albinos, only have some residual pigmentation. There are various degrees of patchy albinism (piebaldism) due to localised mutations in skin cells.
When the elephant stepped away from its mother, we could see that the pigmentation was not only on the legs but in its eyes as well.
In this instance, as well that the other recorded instances where this has happened, the calves are treated normally by their mothers and the rest of the herd. I am hoping that this will ensure that the calf makes it to adulthood, although, there have not been any records of adult elephants with this partial albinism. It is not known whether these calves grow out of it or whether they don’t survive to adulthood due to the sensitivity of their eyes and skin to the sun.
If anyone has any other ideas about what the cause of this might be, please let me know!
In this picture you can see the partial pigmentation on this little elephant
Photographed by Jess Boon
Written by Kate Neill
I have seen something similar in Lake Manyara NP in Tanzania, http://blog.africageographic.com/safari-blog/photography/suspected-albino-elephant-sighted-in-tanzania/ … did this elephant have white hairs as well or just the blue eyes?
Hi Etienne,
Thank you for the link, I also found it when I was look for similar cases. This little calf didnt seem to have any white hairs as far as we could see but it is very possible that both cases are different forms of albinism.
Thanks for the input, lets hope this little one gets to adulthood!
Kate
Jess, I think this calf is pretty darn lucky to be born near or on Londolozi and I’m hopeful she/he will live to adulthood, as long as she is near or on Londolozi or MalaMala.
This is very cool! What a special thing to see… thanks for the info Kate!
Flip go Katie! Soon your knowledge will surpass that of David’s!
Hi everybody,
This special form of albinism is called leukism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucism)
More cases
http://sciencereview.berkeley.edu/why-whites-not-so-white-after-all-the-story-of-leucism/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1146300/The-white-bite-Meet-blue-eyed-alligator-stands-like-sore-thumb.html
http://www.animalsanimals.com/results.asp?searchtxtkeys=Leukism
Have a nice day!
Hi Yennifer,
Thank you so much for the links, I have found it so interesting to find out more about it!
Regards,
Kate
Who’s deleted posts?
PD Is an amazing animal I really hope that he can reach adulthood! Congrats for your conservation work!
Great blog & photos Kate. This herd was down in Sabi Sabi about a week ago.
David Shedrick Trust has an albino orphan. Were you able to see if the eyelashes were normal pigmented.
Hi Rowena,
Unfortunately we were unable to get pictures so close up in order to see the colour of it eyelashes. It seems as though its hair was normal pigmented but we are not sure. If we see this little one again we will be sure to try and get closer pictures.
Kate
Hi Kate…there were three albino calves born at Amboseli this past year…the little one at the DSWT, being one of them, after his mother was poached in December. They were the first recorded in the forty years of studying elephants at Amboseli. They seem to be fine. Their mothers seem to be aware that their calves need a little extra help from the sun and keep them coated in mud. I don’t recall them having blue eyes so it is most likely a different form of albinism to this one. They are all lighter in colour than their cousins, with white hair covering their body, and white tail hair. Such a rare occurrence!
Hi Louise,
Thank you for the information. It is so fascinating! It must be a slightly different type of albinism, as you said, because the one we saw didn’t have white hair. So wonderful to know that the mothers are aware of it!
Regards,
Kate
I am told that only a ‘King’ can possess an albino elephant and it brings good luck….hence the term WHITE ELEPHANT.
Hope this little calf brings a lot of luck to Londolozi, the King of South Africa’s wildlife lodges.
Great pics of this little fella Jess. Hope to see him/her later in the year.
Ian
Is this little one still alive ?? I would like to have some news please.
Thank you =)
Your partial albino elephant was seen on #SafariLive just now (27 jan 2018 sunset drive). Good to see it’s doing well almost 5 years later!