Video: Emperor Penguin Flies More Than 2,000 Miles From Home in Antarctica
A family has filmed an emperor penguin on the coast of Western Australia, more than 2,000 miles from its natural habitat in Antarctica, making it the “northernmost ever recorded sighting of the species”.
The family encountered the rare wild animal while returning home from a birthday dinner.
Kurt Massimilla was reportedly heading home with his family after celebrating his son's 13th birthday when a group of people witnessed an unusual sight while driving on rural roads in Iowa.
“We were driving home at dusk on this country road and suddenly my wife exclaimed: 'An albino deer!'” Massimilla told news agency SWNS.
“Just the tone of her voice – she sounded like a frivolous teenager.”
It is unclear what exactly the animal was, and whether it was indeed an albino deer or a piebald deer.
Two unusual and possibly 'albino' deer were spotted on a rural Iowa road at dusk by a man and his family returning home from a holiday dinner. (Michael Lee Simpson/SWNS)
Massimilla noted that this event is very rare.
According to him, the probability of seeing two such animals at the same time is 1 in 400 million.
“I actually saw it and thought it looked like a white llama or something,” Massimilla added.
“So I slammed on the brakes and reversed and, yeah, two of them were just wandering around the field,” he added.
“I actually saw it and thought it was a white llama or something,” an Iowa father said of a rare white deer sighting. (Michael Lee Simpson/SWNS)
According to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), deer with “varying amounts of white fur” are properly referred to as “piebald deer” rather than true albinos, since true albinos have pink eyes and completely white fur.
According to the NJDEP, piebald deer are rare and make up less than 1 percent of the total population.
Piebald deer are also called leucistic deer.
It's unclear what kind of animal the Iowa family spotted on their way home after the event. (Michael Lee Simpson/SWNS)
According to the National Park Service, leucism is a partial loss of all types of pigmentation that results in white coloration, white spots, or speckles on the skin or fur. “Leucism is also different from albinism because leucism does not affect the pigment cells in the eyes,” the service also noted.
Massimilla and his family recently moved from Arizona to Iowa.
“We are big wildlife lovers so it was just wonderful to see this because we like to see animals that you wouldn't normally see on the beaten path,” he said, as reported by SWNS.
Sourse: www.foxnews.com
