Rare Albino Alligator Makes New Home At Brookfield Zoo

BROOKFIELD, IL – One of only about 100 albino alligators in the world will be at the Brookfield Zoo until September. Snowflake, a 16-year-old albino American alligator, is 7 feet long and will make his home at the zoo's Swamp Habitat before returning to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park in Florida come fall.

According to the zoo, albino alligators are "extremely rare."

"They are the offspring of parents that carry the recessive gene for albinism, meaning they do not have the ability to create melanin to color their skin or eyes. With their ivory-white skin and pinkish eyes, albino alligators would not survive very long in their native habitat of swamps, marshes, rivers, and lakes in the southeastern United States. Predators would easily find the young alligators because they are not able to camouflage amid their surroundings. Additionally, alligators bask in the sun to regulate their body temperature. However, an albino’s skin is very sensitive and can quickly burn. The sun also burns their eyes, making it harder for the albino alligators to see food and predators."

The species was so rare that is was on the Endangered Species List from 1973 until 1987.