Tommy Police, age 12, of New Philadelphia,PA and Kay Hallett, age 12, of Sioux City, Iowa for their question:
What is an albino?
The word albino means white and every albino mouse, rabbit or horse is white. But not every white mouse, rabbit or horse is an albino, Every pig is an animal but not every animal is a pig in any sense of the word. A pig happens to be a certain kind of animal and an albino happens to be a certain kind of white animal. There are also albinos of the plant world.
If you have a rabbit with fur of spotless white he just may b© an albino. If his eyes are pink he is an albino for sure. A pink eyed mouse with fur of spotless white is also an albino and the same color scheme holds true for an albino horse or any other albino animal.
Once in a while a white shelled albino lobster is born or one cub in a litter of spotted leopards may be a snow. white albino. These white animals seem to be quite unrelated to their kinfolk but almost certainly there were other albinos way back and perhaps forgotten in the family tree. For the special whiteness of the albino is inherited.
The strange quality may skip a few generations and then occur again. The children of two albinos are likely to be albinos. When parents, grandparents and great grandparents are albinos the children will all be albinos. If you buy a pair of albino rabbits they will have albino youngsters.
The coloring of an animal is caused by interacting chemicals in the gen;;s which are handed down from parents to children. One group of chemicals are the color bases. They are colorless until they meet a group of enzyme chemicals which act as developers. In an albino animal the color bases or the enzymes do not perform their duties and the animal is actually without the coloring materials normal in his family.
Certain chemicals add a creamy tint to animal skin and fine blood vessels under the surface add a pinkish tone. The skin of an albino may be creamy or pinkish white. But hair, fur and eyes are normally tinted with various amounts of pigment called melanin and this the albino does not have. The fur or hair is white because it has no color. The eyes are pink because the tiny blood vessels of the iris show through. The brain and spinal cord of an albino animal are also white instead of the normal greyish color.
Albino plants lack green chlorophyll, the substance needed to manufacture basic plant food. A few albino corn plants, oak trees and grasses sprout up every year but they soon perish from lack of nourishment. Many albino animals in the wild also die young. A young white squirrel, for instance, is very outstanding in the green brown woods. He is noticed and most likely falls a victim to his hungry foes.