Tuesday, January 2, 2007

An Albino Deer? Or An Echo From the Distant Past?

Driving past the old parade ground in Cape Henlopen State Park this afternoon, I saw a small heard of deer grazing by the tree line. This is not unusual; the Whitetail Deer feel safe enough to graze there most of the year.

Are There Albino Deer?What caught my eye, though, was an apparently all-white deer. I had to try for a photo.

This was taken at a distance and with a bit of zoom. It is not as sharp as I would like. In addition, the white deer seemed to shine in the late-day sun. I was not able to get it properly in focus.

Are there albino deer? There seem to be. From my quick research, I'm guessing that this was either an albino or a piebald deer.

I was also fascinated to find references to a legend of a Great White Deer from the Lenape people who first lived in this area.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw the caption on your photo: molting. Yeah, my head is in an early molting stage, too. I don't think it will ever emerge, though.

I followed the link to the Lenape lesson on White Deer. Reading the spiritual passages/stories from Indian Tribes of the Americas is something that has always invoked various depths of thoughts in me. It's something I thoroughly enjoy.

I enjoyed this for more than the photo, but I must say that the "molting" caption struck me funny.

Unknown said...

Many years ago when I was a child I saw an albino deer fawn at the Assawoman Wildlife refuge - this would have been in the mid/late 70's or so.

Of course, I also have memories of seeing a man in a gorilla suit jumping out at cars in the refuge around the same time, so my memory may be faulty..

Anonymous said...

The deer at cape henlopen is not an albino, nor is it moulting. It's just a genetic flaw and noting more. I live just a few miles from the park and go there regularly to look for it.. To be albino, it would have to be completely void of any pigmentation and this deer has a brown head and brown eyes. Albino animals have pink eyes..

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