Mutation Color Palette

     Color mutations are probably the coolest mutations to look at. There's albinism, melanism, piebaldism, and just too many to properly list them all. I'll be going over a bunch of them in this post so I hope you like these as much as I do.

Albinism

 

     First is the one that everybody is familiar with, albinism. Albinism is when there is a complete, or partial, lack of pigment in the skin, hair, and eyes. This mutation is almost completely hereditary, though there are cases where two non-albinistic parents produced albino offspring. This is very rare though. To the right is a picture of an albino Javanese Starling, situated at an albino animal breeding farm.

Melanism

     Next is the opposite of albinism, melanism. This is when there is an over-abundance of melanin produced in the skin, hair, and eyes. Just like albinism, it's hereditary, though there are cases where the mutations seems random. To the left, a melanistic ratsnake is pictured.

Piebaldism

     Piebaldism is a very unique type of color mutation. With albinism, the cells lack the ability to produce pigment. With piebaldism, the cells have that ability, but it's just turned off. That's why with this mutation there are sections that have color and sections that do not. This is a very rare occurrence though. A plus with this condition is that it doesn't cause the vision problems that albinism sometimes causes. Overall, this is probably my favorite color mutation because it is so unique, and it has occurred in many other species then just the fawn that is pictured to the right.

Heterochromia Iridum

      This is something that most people are aware of, though they might not know that it's called heterochromia iridum. It's a result of different melanin production in the irises, which causes the eyes to be different colors. The most well known type is complete heterochromia, pictured on the left. There can also be sectoral heterochromia, which has only sections of different color, and central heterochromia, which has spikes of different colors radiating from the pupil. Most commonly, a blue eye is there.

Erythrism

     This is something that people definitely haven't heard about. This is when there is an unusually high amount of red pigmentation. This is caused by genetic mutation, though it can also be caused by an animal's diet. Like how flamingos are pink because they have a constant diet of organisms that contain those pigments. The zebra foal to the right is a good example of this when it is a genetic mutation.

Xanthochromism

     Xanthochromism is another uncommon color condition that people probably haven't heard of. It's very similar to erythrism except that it has an unusually high amount of yellow pigmentation. Also like the above mutation, it can be caused either by genetic mutation or diet. The gecko to the left is definitely a good example of this since that bright yellow is not a normal occurrence in the wild.