via – FOX NEWS
Russian scientists seeking white whale — really
Published April 23, 2012
NewsCore
Meet Iceberg, the world’s only all-white killer whale
Iceberg is the first and only known adult orca who is entirely white. He is living in a family group with 12 other resident orcas in the waters of the Northwest Pacific Ocean off the East Asian coast of Russia. The Far East Russia Orca Project (FEROP) is dedicated to researching
The scientists would like to establish whether Iceberg is albino — a genetic condition that leaves animals unable to produce melanin, a dark pigment of skin, hair and the eye’s retina and iris. Many albino animals never grow into adulthood. Their visibility is a disadvantage in the hunt for food and protection against predators.
Two other white orcas are known to live in the waters where Iceberg was spotted, east of Kamtchatka peninsula in Russia’s far-east, but they are juveniles. In 1970, a two-year-old white orca, Chimo, was captured in Canada for a dolphinarium, and was diagnosed with a type of albinism after its death two years later…
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