'It don't matter if your black or white'

Post by **akw270** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 12:52 am

Now here is something you don't ever see. I've heard of WHITE mule deer, but not BLACK mule deer. I figured I'd post them both up so we can argue about genetics. Pretty Cool, and EXTREMELY rare!

bigbuck92 · Post by **bigbuck92** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 8:10 am

Neat!

zatarain6 · Post by **zatarain6** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 8:42 am

nice pics , thanks for sharing them .

AntlersOutWest · Post by **AntlersOutWest** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 9:35 am

Thats something you dont see everyday. Very cool

Post by **MuleyMadness** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 10:28 am

Thats something you dont see everyday. Very cool

Yea no kidding! That black buck is AWESOME!

jersey boy · Post by **jersey boy** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 2:06 pm

Thats awesome man nice pics!!

brn2hunt · Post by **brn2hunt** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 2:15 pm

that is weird!

AGCHAWK · Post by **AGCHAWK** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 2:41 pm

akw270, you mentioned the genetic aspect of this and thought I would throw some stuff out there in case folks were interested (If your not I guess you can skip this post...LOL).

To keep it short, Albinism is a result of a hypopigmentary congenital disorder. Albinism is a result of the lack of pigment melanin.

Melanism is the opposite of Albinism and turns the subject black...or much darker than normal. Although Albinism is caused by a recessive gene and is not "contagious" (It can occur even if both parents are normal...or can occur if only one parent carries the recessive gene), Melanism can be passed through bloodlines OR can be caused by environmental changes or human "actions" such as industrial pollution. Both can also occure in various forms or stages such as abundism or psuedo-abundism which causes stripped or spotted animals to grow wider or more encompassing spots and/or stripes. Piebald is another genetic "quirk" resultant of a lack of pigmentation in spots or areas vice an all-encompassing covereage.

The picture of the white Muley buck outside of Rifle, CO is an example of a leucistic animal. In other words, he suffered from a pigment cell, or chromatophore, defect. He is not suffering from a lack of melanin production and therefore is not an albino...hence the normal eyes and presence of some black areas. Again, these types of genetic "quirks" are refered to as leucistic.

One really interesting thing I found in my studies is that there are links that suggest that Melanism can/does effect the immune system of the animal in question creating a better resistance to viruses/viral infections.

I could go on but I'll keep this short. There really is a lot of cool stuff regarding these animals out there for those folks who choose to read up on it.

Below is another example of a buck with melanism...this time a whitetail buck.

loco4muleys · Post by **loco4muleys** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 7:00 pm

Lol AGCHawk, that last buck looks like a skunk-buck!!

Post by **MuleyMadness** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 7:08 pm

Cool Hawk, once again GREAT info and thanks for educating us.