What the...? a white Canada goose!

[byrdman]

probablly crossed with some domestic...but you will never know for sure......mount it up ....

[Terry Bennett]

Looks like it has some labrador duck genetics. 

[Nancy C]

I don't see any domestic influence in that one. Besides, pure white is almost always recessive to the wild coloration, and albinism IS recessive - always.
If it were a cross it would not be snow white - the genetics are a little too complex to try to describe here, but a simplified version is this:

If it were a hybrid it would get pattern genetics as well as color genetics from both parents. A pure white bird still carries the genetic code for whatever it would have looked like if it had been able to manufacture pigment. It would pass that on, and some aspects of the pattern would be dominant or semi-dominant. It would also pass on the genes for pure white, but that would be recessive.

The result would be a hybrid showing a mixture of patterns from both parents. It would not be white, though, unless the other parent also carried white. Domestic geese always carry the pattern of either graylag or swan geese, or a blend of the two, regardless of how much white they might have. They also have very heavy, thick beaks.

That bird shows no sign of either, and it would be SO unlikely for it to be a pure white, pink-eyed albino as well as a hybrid that the only logical conclusion is that it is, in fact, a genuine albino Canada goose: rare, but not unheard of.

It would have been worth a fortune as a live breeder ... but, oh well.

[byrdman]

whatever.....you wont know for sure without dna testing....but have seen a ton of them around here in mn land of the giants.....mated with farm geese

[2wbdft]

good lord...

"whatever"? really?? you sound like a teeny bopper with that sort of dismissive statement.


for the sake of my own curiosity, and the fact you sound more than a little pompous on the subject. i spoke with two different biologists about this white goose thing i have in my freezer. one in person, the other over the phone after his review of the same pics. on both occasions when i mentioned the fact it has pink eyes and zero pigment anywhere, they both come to their own separate conclusions it is in fact Albino. The one gentleman didn't have a whole lot of spare time to explain. the other, on the other hand explained it nearly in verbatim of what Nancy had to say and went on to mention that had it been the product of a barnyard mutt breeding with a wild Canada or vice verse, there would be evidence in some pigmentation somewhere but namely in the eyes, they would have been brown or hazel. being pink the argument stops there... its Albino.

[Porter]

So how would you make the size 11-13 pink eyes?  That sounds like a hoot.


Thanks for sharing the pics, I hope you post mounted pics aswell when done.

[byrdman]

yellow feet...yellow bill....beige feathering...looks like pigment....whatever...just mount it ...its a cool bird

[Rhasputin]

yellow feet...yellow bill....beige feathering...looks like pigment...

[Nancy C]

LOL -- you should let it go, byrdman.  It's okay to be mistaken - I know, because I've had lot's of experience in that area. (Being mistaken, that is.)

Albinos have red blood, too, and yes - it is caused by a pigment - but it's the lack of melanin that makes a creature an albino, not the lack of carotenoid-based pigments or hemoglobin.
Albinos can have very deep yellow fat, depending in part on what they eat, and it will definitely show through whereever their skin is thin.

Pure white feathers will often look yellowish or dingy after exposure to sunlight, and they show dirt very easily. You know that from working with snow geese. It's just what they do, because they aren't very durable.

[byrdman]

yeah know what you mean...folks get so hung up on the whole "albino" thing on here ....that("whatever") was my letting it go...

[franchi612]

even hazel or dark eyes can be expressed though in the recessive white genes. It's a common misconception "albinos" must have pink eyes. There are several different types of white genes. For instance in horses there is such a color as "white" that is not albino, but extreme pinto, and they can have blue or brown eyes. It would be similar to leucism in bids, where an extreme example might not show dark feathers but have  dark eyes, or blue eyes also seems to happen. It's very interesting that there are so many similarities in mammals and birds when it comes to color, but then again I suppose melanin expresses the same no matter the animal? It's just that in mammals the genes have been studied and named whereas in birds they have not because so many species are wild, and tame birds may not have pure genes.

[Rhasputin]

It's a common misconception "albinos" must have pink eyes.

I'm pretty sure that a requirement of being an oculocutaneous (both hair and eyes are effected) albino (as in, genetically pigment free) is to also have no eye pigment.
There is also ocular albinism, which effects only the eyes.
Any other gene that turns the coat or plumage, or scales white, may not effect the eye, but they are also not albino.

An animal that is hypomelanistic, may be light coloured and also have pink eyes which is one type of albino, causing partial pigment loss.
Amelenistic is the one we usually think of, being complete and total lack of pigmentation.
So basically yes. An albino animal of any kind should have pink, or red, eyes.

[2wbdft]

So how would you make the size 11-13 pink eyes?  That sounds like a hoot.


Thanks for sharing the pics, I hope you post mounted pics aswell when done.

Bought the blanks the other day. I wont be getting to mounting it for awhile but the plan is to paint them the very same way one would a custom fish eye (see JKnuth's tutorial on youtube). Should be pretty straight forward. Its the extremely weak skin im worried about working with.

[franchi612]

http://www.albinism.org/publications/what_is_albinism.html

even ocular albinism does not produce 100% pink eyes (in humans in this instance) They are so many different ways in which genes can be expressed depending on how they interact with other genes, and we undertand only a minute fraction of how those genes interact

[franchi612]

It's a common misconception "albinos" must have pink eyes.

I'm pretty sure that a requirement of being an oculocutaneous (both hair and eyes are effected) albino (as in, genetically pigment free) is to also have no eye pigment.
There is also ocular albinism, which effects only the eyes.
Any other gene that turns the coat or plumage, or scales white, may not effect the eye, but they are also not albino.

An animal that is hypomelanistic, may be light coloured and also have pink eyes which is one type of albino, causing partial pigment loss.
Amelenistic is the one we usually think of, being complete and total lack of pigmentation.
So basically yes. An albino animal of any kind should have pink, or red, eyes.

Also if you will notice I used quotes, inferring the vernacular of albino, which to most people means a white animal. Cremello and perlino horses are sometimes referred to as albino. There is even a color registry called the albino horse registry. They are not of course genetic albinos. With birds, even less seems to be known about color genetics. About the only term in use is leucistic to describe a very wide array of different white combinations. Breeders call the pale ducks apricot. In mammals there are so many more terms such as in horses piebald or pinto had different genes that have been studied and each pattern has a name and can be genetically tested. There is no overo in arabians but there is sabino. Well, how are we to know that birds don't have the exact same pattern of white that are genetically distinct unless it is studied further? What if in leucism there are different genetic patterns like pinto in horses? There is extreme sabino in horses which causes a white horse with dark eyes. These are horses that are no cremello or perlino. Whitetail deer show very similar color patterns. Piebald deer have a pattern that would be similar to sabino. Extreme white deer can have blue or dark eyes. This is why I think that the genes connected to melanin may hve very similar responses in all animals, we just don't have terms to define all of the patterns, nor have most species been genetically studied ti know if this is true