Question:
I live in Northeast PA,Monroe County.My husband and I were
riding through a State park
and saw a white deer with alittle brown on it's face,and alittle spot of
brown on its body.
Do you know of any white deer sightings in this area?
And,can you give me some imformation on this deer.
I was reaaly amaze at this,I will be going back to this area more often to
try to get some pictures of it.
Replies:
Claire,
I just spoke with my brother who is an avid hunter and usually hunts in Pike
County. He told me he has heard of albino deer through a friend who has
seen several of them over his many hunting years. He also mentioned one was
killed in near Allentown when it ventured onto a highway in the city.
Albinos do occur in deer, and they result from a lack of pigmentation, most
likely through some genetic error. The error results in the chain of normal
pigmentation processes being broken so that normal pigment is not produced
successfully. Just as in albino rabbits or other mammals, you should see
that the animal's eyes appear pink because normal pigmentation there is also
lacking. (Note that flash photography makes almost everyone appear
pink-eyed).
Good luck with your attempt to photograph the deer.
Thanks for using NEWTON!
Richard R. Rupnik
Internal Quality Auditor
Lucent Technologies
NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.
