Here’s something you don’t see every day: an albino gray whale. One known to the region around Mexico as “Gallon of Milk” was recently spotted by Mexico’s Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) and was caught on video.
The gray whale, which was given the name the first time it was spotted in 2008, as The Telegraph reports, so it’s kind of a refreshing sight for those who got to witness it. What’s more is the whale was accompanied by a little calf, which is thought to be the albino mother’s offspring.
Although albino creatures are rare as they are, but gray whales aren’t particularly easy to come by themselves. So when you put the two together, what you end up with is a very rare creature.
Albino animals are white in color because they lack enough of a pigment in their skin known as melanin. This makes them particularly vulnerable to predators, as well as the Sun, and makes life a lot harder for creatures who suffer from the disorder.
Because the gray whale species isn’t very prolific, CONANP is closely monitoring the area, and has been doing so for two decades to keep a close number on the species. The goal is to sustain the species without allowing the numbers to get too low. Recent head counts put the species in the 2,200’s range; half of which are calves.
The footage of Gallon of Milk and her calf swimming in the Pacific Ocean was shared on Twitter by CONANP earlier this month, and can be seen below:
La @CONANP_mx registra ejemplar albino de #BallenaGris en la #RB El Vizcaíno, #BCS: https://t.co/3cUbNSgr3t pic.twitter.com/RhpgJZuPhY
— CONANP (@CONANP_mx) March 2, 2016
Source: The Telegraph
