A Florida reptile park has welcomed the birth of an exceptionally rare white leucistic alligator, marking a historic event in the realm of American alligators. The female alligator, measuring 19.2 inches (49 cm), hatched at Gatorland Orlando, joining the ranks of a select few known leucistic alligators. Gatorland’s President and CEO, Mark McHugh, expressed the extraordinary rarity of this occurrence, highlighting its uniqueness.
The public is invited to contribute suggestions for the alligator’s name. This distinctive reptile traces its lineage back to a nest of leucistic alligators discovered in the swamps of Louisiana in 1987. Remarkably, the blue-eyed newborn is the first solid white alligator documented to have descended from the original members of that nest. Out of the seven remaining alligators from the nest, three are currently housed at Gatorland.
Leucistic alligators represent the rarest genetic variation within the American alligator species. Distinguishing them from albino alligators, leucistic individuals lack the pink eyes and complete pigment loss associated with albinism, as explained by Gatorland.
The park plans to showcase the leucistic alligator and her normally colored sibling to visitors early next year. Until then, the alligators will be kept in a secure environment, allowing for close monitoring of their health and growth, as noted by McHugh.
