SILER CITY, N.C. — What a sight!
WFMY News 2 viewer Amy Smith sent us a video of a white deer that was in her backyard in Siler City.
In the video above, the deer looks into the camera for a second before darting away. It's right next to a normally colored deer, so you know it's not a trick of the light.
How common of a sight is that anyway? Not very common at all, it turns out.
White deer are very rare, and there are a couple of varieties of white deer.
The first is albinism. It only appears in one in every 30,000 deer, according to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. Albinism is characterized by an all-white coat, pink eyes, pink nose, pink or white hooves and pink inside the ears, according to the Deer Association.
Next, Leucistic deer have all-white hair, dark-colored eyes, dark-colored noses and dark-colored hooves, according to the Deer Association. Leucism is different than albinism in that there is still pigment present in the eyes. Leucism is also caused by a wide variety of conditions, according to the Deer Association. Full leucism is found in less than 1% of the deer population.
Lastly, piebald deer are not completely white but instead have patches of white hair along with normal coloring. This is also called partial leucism, according to the Deer Association. Piebalds can be as common as one in every 1,000 deer.
Have you ever seen one for yourself?
Let us know and share your experiences with seeing the rare white deer on our Facebook page.
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