Albinism (from Latin albus, "white" also called achromia, achromasia, or achromatosis) is a form of hypopigmentary congenital disorder, characterized by a partial or total lack of melanin pigment in the eyes, skin and hair, or more rarely in the eyes alone. Albinism results from inheritance of recessive alleles. The condition is known to affect mammals (including humans), fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians. While the most common term for an organism affected by albinism is "albino" (noun and adjective), the word is sometimes used in derogatory ways towards people; more neutral terms are "albinistic" (adjective) and "person with albinism" (noun). Additional clinical adjectives sometimes used to refer to animals are "albinoid" and "albinic".
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| "Pinky" the bottlenose dolphin |
It is not the same as leucism, where all integumental pigment is absent at least in patches but the eyes have their usual color.Leucistic animals are often mistaken as being albino creatures, such as white lions. Leucism is a condition similar to albinism, characterized by reduced pigmentation in general and can also affect distribution of pigment on the hair shaft, but unlike albinism, it’s caused by a reduction in all types of skin pigment, not just melanin. Chinchilla and other mutations can also cause white animals, such as some of the animals depicted here, including white peacocks, and white tigers, which are typically white rather than albino.
