A Special Visitor At Beardsley Zoo

BRIDGEPORT — The staff at Beardsley Zoo is gearing up for a special visitor who will arrive next month. An unusual white alligator will be at Connecticut’s only zoo from October through December in the New World Tropics Building.

There are only about a dozen white alligators known to exist. The animals are not albinos, but rather are called “leucistic” because they have no melanin in their skin, so they look white. The rare condition of leucism is characterized by a complete lack of pigment in an animal’s skin, the result of which is the white skin, and blue pigment in the eyes.

(Albino animals have pigment cells in their skin that do not work, on the other hand, which results in a yellowish color. They also have no pigment in their eyes, which, showing the blood within, therefore appear pink.)

The American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) visiting Connecticut will be taking a vacation from its home at Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. The zoo is home to a small family of white alligator hatchlings who were found in a Louisiana swamp in 1987.

Leucistic alligators are extremely rare because their survival in the wild is extremely difficult. Even if they weren’t gobbled up as youngsters, with their white skin a magnet for predators in the murkiness of the swamp, they would certainly die from exposure, their sensitive skin burned by the hot Louisiana sun.

“Because these animals would not survive in the wild, they enable us to illustrate the significance of natural adaptations in ‘survival of the fittest,’” says David Robinett, the general curator at Audubon Zoo.

Beardsley Zoo is at 1875 Noble Avenue; signs are posted from I-95 and the Route 25 Connector. The zoo is open 9 am to 4 pm daily, except Holidays. The New World Tropics Building is open 10:30 am to 3:30 pm.

Zoo admission rates are $6 for adults, $4 for seniors and children ages 3 to 11, and free for children age 3 and under. Call 203/394-6565 for additional information.