Taiji's Whale Museum White Dolphins

[Admin Rose]

Newest photo of Yuki, the white Risso’s dolphin captured on Thanksgiving Day.

This dolphin doesn’t appear to have any normal colored skin, but does have normal colored eyes, indicating that he is leucistic and not albino.

Also, Yuki is male, meaning the Taiji Whale Museum is likely going to try to breed him with Shiro, the piebald female Risso’s dolphin captured a few days ago. If they produced a calf, there’s a high possibility it would suffer from health issues.  Yuki joins “Spica,” also known as “Angel,” the albino bottlenose dolphin captured last January, and “Shiro,” the Risso’s dolphin captured Sunday, Nov. 23 (Japan time) in the cove. Upon review of additional footage of Shiro, the Cove Guardians have confirmed that the female, mostly white dolphin with a large gray spot is in fact piebald and not albino. Some animals that are mostly white or lighter-colored than usual but have dark eyes are not true albinos. When pigmentation is reduced, or expressed only in certain regions of the body, the condition is called leucism. Unlike albinism, it is caused by a reduction in all types of skin pigment, not just melanin. Although not an albino dolphin, Shiro still represents a rare and lucrative find for the dolphin killers and trainers of Taiji.

The Taiji Whale Museum now has three white dolphins in their possession