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Albino Crows Discovered in Canada

If you’re spending the summer months stuck in your office instead of soaking up some rays at the beach, you may be looking a little paler than you’d like – but you’re sure to have a little more color than the recently-discovered albino crows of East Vancouver, Canada.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on June 23 2008
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If you’re spending the summer months stuck in your office instead of soaking up some rays at the beach, you may be looking a little paler than you’d like –but you’re sure to have a little more color than the recently-discovered albino crows of East Vancouver, Canada.

Several weeks ago, Pat Brand and his wife were peering out of their window and spotted a pure white bird, which they took for a pigeon or seagull. But it looked a bit different to them: “It still had the fluffy feather on its side, so I knew it was a fledgling. But it was pure white, real pretty, even the beak, but with distinctive pink eyes,” Brand told CBC News. They soon identified it as a crow, and neighbors told them they’d spotted another bird with the same distinctive lack of color.

The albino crows’ remarkable appearance is due to a rare genetic mutation. The Brands were worried that the birds might be a target for predators, but they seem to have the whole flock at their beck and call: When Mrs. Brand approached one of the birds to take a picture, a group of six crows flew in front of the young albino to protect him. So while they may not be birds of a feather, it doesn’t keep them from flocking together.

Filed under: Animals and Pets, General Interest,

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