4-04-2025 8:45pm

Leucism —A Genetic Condition That Appears In The Animal World

Beth Callahan Editor

Nature Close to Home and Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalist Dave Woehr shares monthly naturalist stories.

LEBANON, OH -- Leucism is a genetic condition that appears in the animal world resulting in normal color patterns being disrupted and replaced with white skin, fur, scales or feathers. The affected area can appear in irregular patches or can cover the entire body of the animal. It is caused by a different recessive gene than the one that causes albinism.

A notable difference between leucistic and albino animals is eye color. Leucisitic animals have dark eyes whereas pure albino animals have pink eyes. Leucistic or albino animals represent very small portions of their respective species.

Just recently I happened to encounter two species of birds that exhibited leucism. One was an American Robin in Armco Park.

The other one was a Dark-eyed Junco that showed up under my backyard sunflower seed feeder.

Over the years I’ve encountered white squirrels in our area sometimes without being able to decide whether they were leucistic or albino since it’s hard to get close enough to them to be sure of their eye color.

If you are interested in learning more about leucism and albinism you might find additional information on the subject by browsing for articles on the internet like this one https://www.treehugger.com/whats-the-difference-between-albino-and-leucistic-4864546

On another note..Spring is Here!

Spring is moving along and I'm not getting out there enough, but that's not stopping Spring ephemerals, which are about to peak....