With his piercing blue eyes and pale skin this rare alligator stands out like a sore thumb.
Weighing over 500 pounds, Bouya Blan is one of only 12 white alligators in the world.
The 22-year-old, whose name means white fog, lives along with three other giant leucistic alligators at the world famous Gatorland theme park in Florida.
‘People are awestruck when they see them, and just one look into those icy, blue eyes will give you chills,’ says Mark McHugh, President & CEO of Gatorland.
‘We’re excited to bring these thrilling animals to Florida.’
Collected from deep in a Louisiana swamp, the ivory reptiles were part of a clutch of seventeen infants recovered by workers from the Louisiana Land and Exploration Company while surveying the area in 1986.
The group later brought the hatchlings to the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans where only a few of the rare reptiles survived, before they were brought to Gatorland last year.
‘This is the largest group of giant white gators in the world,’ says Tim Williams of Gatorland.
‘These are not albino animals, they are what we call leucistic, which means they have a little bit of pigmentation around the mouth and a ‘little touch on the tail and they have piercing blue eyes.’
Leucistic animals have rare genetic condition that reduces the colour pigmentation in their skin.
Out of the five million American alligator population there are thought to be only 12 leucistic gators.
‘They are just like alligators and they eat the same food,’ explains Tim.
‘The biggest concern is that they never would have survived in the wild. They are like little beacons out shining “come eat me”.
‘They are each ten to eleven plus feet in length and vulnerable to many predators because their lack of skin pigmentation deprives them of natural camouflage.’
Due to their condition, the alligators are housed in special enclosures to protect them from sunlight – and the unwanted attention of other males.
‘We have four white alligators here at Gatorland and because they are all males they cannot be in the same enclosure as they are all very big and they would all fight with each other,’ says Tim.
‘They are also very sensitive to direct sunlight, so we have to keep them in an environment where they get a tiny bit of sunlight during the day.
‘They need to have a bit of Vitamin D but that is supplemented in their diet where we feed them chicken, fish, red meat and vitamin supplements.
‘They each have their own pool and a haul out area and wooden decking they crawl out and bask in the heat.’
Tim and his team are now hoping to breed white alligators with two female American gators who carry the leucistic gene.
‘We also have two normal females who carry the gene for the leusitic offspring,’ he says.
“‘Our hope is that with some candle light, soft music and maybe a little wine we are hoping to breed some leusitic gators in the near future,’ he added.
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