Photo taken by Steurt Dewer 1996
I am one of the veterinarians from Barcelona Zoo and have taken care of his health for the last 9 years. I got a message regarding albinism in snow fale (or "Copito de Nieve" as we say) from the Primate curator of BZ (Tereas Abello). There was a presentation in the American Association of Veterinary Dermatologist few years ago titled "Albinism in a Gorilla" by Ferrer, Fernandez, Castellels and Fernandez...if you want we can send you a reprint (it is a short communication). We conclude in that paper that snowflake is affected by a oculocutaneous albinism that could be equivalent to Type I-B or yellow albinism in human beings. This seems to be associated with reduced but sufficient levels of residual tyorinase activity to produce small amounts of pigment. His skin is totally white and the membranes are pale pink. hairs are also whiten although in some areas (head and shoulders) they were light yellow creamy. Iris is blue to gray and small amounts of pigment were found in the iridial stroma and in the retina. Pigment was absent in the posterior epithelium and the iris was fully translucent on globe transllumination. I hope this information is useful for your considerings, Regards,
Jesus Fernandez Moran
Servicio Veterinario
Parque Zoologico de Barcelona, España
120,000 came to see Bushman when it was thought he was dying, and then he was mounted when he did die.
When the decision to uthenize Snowflake on Nov. 24, 2003 because of painful skin cancer was reached, the citizens of Spain/Barcelona were given the opportunity to say good bye. The decision split the city in half. Half accused the zoo of exploiting him further as displaying him had done in the past.
I truly believe it is harder to make an animal/person hero in todays world. You had better have an over abundance of CHARISMA.
Monday, April 28, 2008
SuperStar status belongs to one animal---Snowflake
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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3 comments:
I actually wrote a bit of the wikipedia article about Snowflake, and I quoted Antonio Jonch from his article The White Gorilla (Gorilla g. gorilla) At Barcelona Zoo, which appeared in the International Zoo Yearbook Vol. XIII pg. 196, in which he gives a detailed description of Snowflakes eyes, much like what's posted on the blog. I also added a reference to Pinky, the albino chimpanzee who lived at a sanctuary in Sierra Leone and had one blue eye, and one brown.
Paul,
Do you have any photo's of this Chimpanzee? I had forgotten about that one.
Wade
Wade: Did you hear that Snowflake's son Urko bred with one of his half sisters in 1988 and had a daughter, which I assume was normal coloured, and lived only a short time, just a couple of weeks or months? Snowflake also has a great grand daughter who was born in Dublin Zoo and another in Baarcelona. Take care. Sincerely Paul
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