Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game A mostly white moose

Seen yesterday in Vermont. This should be interesting. Looks to be piebald rather than albino or maybe it's just a little muddy? A young bull I think?

Very cool! If albino, are albino's protected in Vermont?

This was on last nights news, they (WCAX) also put it on their FaceBook page which generated lots of interesting comments.
http://www.wcax.com/story/32066809/rare-moose-sighting-in-rochester

No they aren't.

I tried to find the difference between piebald and albino, if any. Info is scarce but the theory is that albinos are caused by a recessive gene that blocks the formation of pigment in the eyes and hair. Piebalds are just a rare color phase, like spotted cattle.
If anyone has some better data, please post it.

I don't have data or concrete evidence, but this is the innanet and heresay is good enough right?

Just a quirk but piebald starts to show up the more domesticated something becomes. Look at farmed whitetails over a few generations....



Not that that moose is domestic...its just an aberration....

Both genetic quirks, just not the same quirk. I've heard that piebald deer often have a severe over bite as well, but I don't really know.

Inbreeding or line breeding will often bring out rare traits, usually bad ones. I have 2 sisters-in-law who raise German Shepherd show dogs. While they don't inbreed or line breed, it's almost impossible to get quality breeding stock that isn't. GS show dog lines have all kinds of serious genetic traits. They've both had to put down a lot of pups with problems.

Moose have a much smaller gene pool than, say, whitetails. I can see how a bad trait would have a good chance of being propagated.

That's K O O L...! !

Thnx


Jerry

The moose looks like piebald to me. The eyes do not look pink at all, plus the dark ears.

I used to have work at Bethlehem Steel in eastern Pa. There was a resident deer herd at the site, which did not allow hunting, so the deer were pretty much protected.

There were at least a dozen piebald deer, but none had the traits of an albino.

donsm70

That's pretty cool. Thanks for sharing.

My thoughts exactly! Awesome picture.

Yep - that's right, I read it on an internet forum..... Saw some fallow deer today in someone's little urban pasture and one was fairly white - they looked pretty tame too figuring they musta been there awhile! Hard to argue with evidence like that...

The point about genetics and inbreeding might be quite true. Vermont was moose-less for quite some time. Moose made their way back into the state from Canada and then expanded down thru the Green Mountains. It wouldn't surprise me if our moose population is decended from just a few individuals.
There have been other reports of white moose here before and an albino bull was killed a few years ago.

Saw this one mounted at LL Cote in Errol N.H.

White is a normal color for fallow, along with spotted fawn, chocolate, and black....

That will make a nice trophy for somebody.

I've personally seen 2 wild moose white from the knees down, and pictures of local moose partially or nearly completely white- probably not albinos. As well as pics on the internet of various other color combos, including albinos.

Poor bastid - target for everyone..... that is a gorgeous moose!

OK- I like pastels. Sue me.