Reported By: Eric Glasser
Photographer: Gary Russ
Mardi, a white alligator, is one of only ten such animals known to exist. He's not an albino. Mardi is white because he's leucistic. He, and the other nine gators like him, were all part of the same nest found twenty years ago in Louisiana.
At 9-feet 230-pounds he's just like any other alligator, except for his lack of color, says the Palm Beach Zoo's Keith Lovett.
"The largest difference is that one, because of it's color this animal would never survive in the wild because there is no camouflage and it would be picked off at a very early age by a predator. And secondly," adds Lovett, "they are very prone to sunburn. They do not do well in the exposed elements, again because of the lack of pigment in their skin."
Mardi, named for Mardi Gras, goes on display June 15th and is on loan from the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans through the end of September.
Check out the Palm Beach Zoo for more information on the rare gator.
