Third round of pictures

Couple more.

I got a total of 110 pictures. Notice on the moose a big horse fly and bugs on its nose i feel sorry for the animals this time of year with all the bugs.

Great pics! :thumb Really like the Piebald pics!!

Very interesting deer. What causes that?

Nothing like getting a nose shot up close1

Great Pictures

looks like shes half albino. Nice pics.

Great pics Wapiti! I also really dig the Piebald doe. We used to have one that wandered around town here for years. She finally wandered in front of a truck and that was the end of her.

AntlersOutWest, it's just a pigmentation issue which causes spots or patterns on the animal and is passed on through recessive genes. It's really nothing that causes any real adverse health effects although some piebald deer have been reported to have curved spines and/or shorter legs than normal. Most piebalds are as healthy as thier normal-colored counterparts though.
(I've never read where a definitive link between the curved spine/shorter legs and being piebald has been established scientifically.)

The difference between this deer and a true albino is that albinos completely lack melanin pigmentation.

Just an interesting fact: Pie" means "mixed up;" "bald" means "having a white spot." Hence a Piebald deer. They are also sometimes refered to as "pinto deer".

Nice pics.

Actually if you read up on it piebaldism is a ressive trait that is most linked to inbreeding. Biologist consider them geneticly infeior to a normal deer. Although some animals show no visable effects other than there color. Most have some type of birth defect. The 2 i have seen personely both did. One of them had front hoves were turned in almost pointing at each other.

The lower jaw on the buck i killed last year was a good 1.5"-2" too short. He was with another 1.5 year old deer that easily outwieghed him by 30-40 pounds.

My taxidermist did a great job of making him look right though.[/img]

Thunderhead, thanks for the info.

As I stated in my post, I knew it was passed through recessive genes..what I didn't know was that they are considered "genetically inferior" and a result of inbreeding. I don't remember reading or learning about that in my studies (Of course, old age does get the best of me). I guess I'll have to do some more reading tonight (Gives me something to do anyway)

Thanks again....Ya gotta learn at least ONE THING every day.

AGC, i do learn at least 1 thing everday, all i have to do is read your posts!! :thumb :thumb

Thunder Head and AGCHAWK i learned alot about piebaldism i want to thank both of you.. :thumb :thumb

LOL....well Killer, for the most part the kudos go to Thunder Head on this one.

I pulled out one of my many books from my studies and sure enough, in less than 15 minutes, I found the answer.

Thunder Head, you pointed out one significant point that apparently had slipped my mind over the years. It is believed that it is a result of density dependant factors within the population that can lead to inbreeding. The traits I mentioned in my original post that are also associated with Piebald deer do occur at times....but not with all Piebald deer.

To expound just a bit, it does NOT have to come from inbreeding alone. If both buck and doe carry that recessive gene, a Piebald fawn can result...even if the mating pair are not related. From what I read, the other traits (Spine issues, shorter legs...and the shorter lower jaw that you mentioned in conjunction with Piebald) are the ones that come along with inbreeding.

Thanks again Thunder Head. I'm glad you jumped in.

No problem Wapiti! Like I stated before, I love this sort of stuff and do a lot of reading and studying on it (wildlife biology, natural resource management, etc)...but not enough for someone else to teach me a thing or two...LOL

Nice pictures. Keep 'em coming.

Thanks for the biology lesson. This forum sure has friendly way of sharing information.