Incredibly rare pink dolphin gave birth to albino calf in Lousiana, USA

Albino pink dolphin| Pink dolphin spotted in US lake| very rare pink dolphin| "Pinky" the pink dolphin gave birth to pink calf| Dolphin spotted with pink calf | Pink dolphin of Amazon 



Everyone may seem to be loving these cute friendly creatures of water called dolphins and every year thousands of visitors travel to the ocean waters to get a glimpse of this amazing smiling dolphins swimming alongside boats and ships. 

Dolphins are quite interactive especially with humans and often are found in ocean parks and shows amusing the crowd there. We all have seen dolphins either in real or if not then through images or clips and have always seen a grey or black coloured fish with a nose that resembles a smiling face. 

                                              
Rare sighting of a pink dolphin 
Image Source-  Google | Image by - 
Flickr


But as it said nature is incredible and always surprises with all sorts of wonders and mutations in both flora and fauna. One such wonder has been spotted in the year 2009 in Louisiana Lake of US where a charter boat Captain Erik Rue like every day was in his boat when saw a pod of dolphins in which one was light coloured throughout its body. Closely looking at it he saw that it was pink coloured with red eyes and was swimming with a pod of other four dolphins. 

He said that he had never seen such a thing ever in his life and it was so beautiful as if it was newly painted. He photographed the dolphin and was so mesmerized by its beauty that he started studying the mammal thereafter. Erik says that the dolphin is healthy and normal apart from its colouration which so stunningly pink. Of the four dolphins in the pod, one of them is its mother which always stays near. 

 He saw a very rare albino dolphin which first surfaced in Lake Calcasieu, a saltwater estuary, north of the Gulf of Mexico in the southwestern USA. Since then Erik has spotted “Pinky” the pink albino dolphin which everyone calls it as she has become a star worldwide and a source of new information about the dolphin world for researchers. 

                                                      
Pink Dolphin spotted in Louisiana river 
Image Source-  Google | Image by - 
Flickr

But again Nature always has hidden wonders and surprises us now and then. After around 12 years and after mating with other males grey dolphin, contrary to all rules of genetics, Pinky has given birth to a pink calf that resembles its colour exactly.  

Pinky after being spotted has been living in the Calcasieu river ship channel where recently it has been spotted with a pink calf which was born a few days back. The people in the area are ecstatic and every day a huge crowd visits the channel to get a glimpse of this albino dolphin Pinky with its calf. 

Surprisingly both are not very much affected by the sunlight or environment which was expected because of their colouration but are seen to remain underwater for a longer duration than other dolphins.

How do they get "pink" colouration ?

Every creature whether it be a tiger with stripes, snakes with patterns, birds with colourful feathers and fishes with many distinct colouration have been created by nature taking into consideration in which environment they need to survive. Similar is with the case of dolphins but in the case of Pinky, it is suffering from a disorder called albinism.

 

Albinism is caused when cells that develop pigment called melanin which is responsible for colouration of skin, hair, eyes are not able to produce it on optimum levels or not at all in some cases. This makes the creature what we call “ Albino” because of distinct or no coloration as compared to other inmates.

 This albinism is caused because of mutation in one of the genes. When a male and female mates, if both have similar mutation their genes, the chances of having albinism in the offspring is quite high. 

While if either of the two has this genetic mutation, then the chances of an albino offspring are 50%. This is how genetic coding works but having a mutation in genes is so rare that albinism is incredibly rare to observe in species.

                                                   
Rare pink dolphin of Amazon river 
Image Source-  Google | Image by - 
Flickr

Albinism is rare but is also harmful to the animal as sunlight and other environmental factors can cause damage to the skin. Eyes with albinism are often found to have poor vision. Ambush predators with albinism are often not able to camouflage themselves in the wild and hence most of the albinos end up in captivity. 



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