Albinism or Leucism

Do you know the difference?

Ishaqbini community conservancy lies NNW of Malindi on the Kenya coast, just south of
the Kenya-Somali border. Its main focus is the protection of the rare Hirola antelope, and the
endenic spicies of the Tana River.
[Hirola antelope picture]
Jamie Manuel has been working for Northern Rangelands Trust (NRL) under the security,
and special projects for three years now. The project oversees 36 conservancies and has vast
tracts of land under Community Conservancies. Most regions are inhospitable, forn the
normal holliday maker, its semi-desert areas where Kenyan Somalis heard large numbers of
camels from waterhole to browse and back.
There are few roads and therefore there are unique ecosystems that flourish and deserve
protection just in return for their continued survival in so harsh an area.
In the middle reaches of the Tana River, below Garissa, reports were heard of an albino
giraffe. The reports came from camel herders in the Somali Abdallah tribe that live in the
area.
These herders live their lives peacefully, few or none of them involved in the conflict that
hits the news in the regions further north. They live side by side with the wildlife an seem to
have a strong conservation ethic that has resulted in livestock and wildlife peacefully coexisting in Ishaqbini and its surrounds. Here the Hirola antelope and their protection looks to
be a resounding success story with numbers steadily climbing and now standing at 100
individuals within the sanctary.
The white giraffe has been little more than a rumour for the NRT team until some time ago
it was spotted from the NRT aircraft as it counted the precious Hirola. Photos were snapped
and its existence confirmed. Details though, remained unknown, with people beliving it to be
a albino Girafe.

A few weeks ago Jamie decide to see if he and the rangers could find the giraffe on the
ground. The bumpy road took the crew from Lamu to Wiitu to then North to Maselani and
into the Wilcon area. Wildcon lies outside of the conservancy on the NE side bordering the
Boni Forest and is a vast expanse of thorny scrub and ???? Word was sent out that they were
on the trail of the white giraffe and slowly herders sent word back of the general area it had
last been seen in.
Morning searches turned up twittering pods of dwarf mongooses sunning themselves while
lilac breasted rollers called from thorny perches. Carmine bee eaters and batleurs lent colour
to the blue canvas of the sky and, until the heat got up, lesser kudu, buffalo, zebra, topi and
gerenuk browsed and grazed in peace as crested francolin screeched intermittently and
vulturine guinea fowl danced a badly rehearsed polka dance amongst the grasses. On the
second day of a scorching search supplemented by succulent watermelons the six came, on
foot, into a area which had seen rain only weeks before. Acacia seyal and arabica flowered
wildly and amongst them towered the white giraffe in a moving journey of 14 giraffe.
The giraffe was finally photographed at close quarters and the question thus arose albino
or leucistic?
Leucism is a condition where there is a partial loss of pigmentation resulting in white, pale
or patchy colouration of skin, hair or feathers, cuticles or scales but not eyes. Unlike albinism
it is caused by a reduction in multiple types of pigment, not just melanin. A giraffe with
leucim was spotted in January in Tanzania and it seems that this is the condition that we see
in this giraffe.
Albinism on the other hand is a congenital disorder characterized by the complete or
partial absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes due to absence or defect of tyrosinase, a
copper-containing enzyme involved in the production of melanin. It is the opposite of
melanism.
Unlike humans, other animals have multiple pigments and for these, albinism is considered
to be a hereditary condition characterised by the absence of melanin in particular, in the eyes,
skin, hair, scales, feathers or cuticle.
Albinism results from inheritance of recessive gene alleles and is known to affect

all vertebrates, including humans.

So now we know, while an organism with complete absence of melanin is called
an albino, an organism with only a diminished amount of melanin is described
as leucistic or albinoid.

3 x photos of the giraffe with one caption saying

A young, healthy female of about X years who has not been taken by predators yet. She
appears helthy and her leucism seems not to be affecting either her health or her
survival.

1 x photo af an albino and one photos of a melanistic animal