罕见蓝眼睛白色鳄鱼 世界仅存12只

The white bite: Meet the blue-eyed alligator who stands out like a sore thumb
罕见蓝眼睛白色鳄鱼 世界仅存12只



“波尤亚-巴兰”是世界仅存的12只蓝眼睛白色鳄鱼中的一只。
Rare: 22-year-old Bouya Blan is one of only 12 white alligators in the world and is kept at Gatorland theme park in Florida



“波尤亚-巴兰”和它的饲养员威廉姆斯
'People are awestruck': Bouya Blan with his handler Tim Williams at Gatorland




蓝眼睛的白色鳄鱼不太可能在野外生存下来。
The beady blue eye: Due to the alligator's distinct colour he would be unlikely to survive for long in the wild

　　美国佛州鳄鱼岛主题公园内生活着四只蓝眼睛白色鳄鱼，它们与动物园的其它鳄鱼形成了鲜明的反差。

　　22岁的“波尤亚-巴兰”重达226.7公斤，它是世界仅存的12只蓝眼睛白色鳄鱼中的一只。它名字的意思是“白雾”，和另外三只蓝眼睛白色鳄鱼生活在世界著名的鳄鱼岛主题公园。

　　鳄鱼岛主题公园总裁兼首席执行官马克-麦克休称：“当人们看到这些白色鳄鱼时，他们会大吃一惊，仅仅看看那些冰冷的蓝色眼睛就会使人感到寒意。我们对把这些很刺激的动物带到佛州感到很激动。”路易斯安那州土地和开发公司1986年在对路易斯安那的一处沼泽地进行勘测时发现了17只小白色鳄鱼，它们被送往新奥尔良的奥德朋动物园进行孵化，但只有几只白色鳄鱼活了下来，它们于去年被送往鳄鱼岛主题公园。

With his piercing blue eyes and pale skin this rare alligator stands out like a sore thumb.

Weighing over 500 pounds, Bouya Blan is one of only 12 white alligators in the world.
The 22-year-old, whose name means white fog, lives along with three other giant leucistic alligators at the world famous Gatorland theme park in Florida.

'People are awestruck when they see them, and just one look into those icy, blue eyes will give you chills,' says Mark McHugh, President & CEO of Gatorland.


'We're excited to bring these thrilling animals to Florida.'  

Collected from deep in a Louisiana swamp, the ivory reptiles were part of a clutch of seventeen infants recovered by workers from the Louisiana Land and Exploration Company while surveying the area in 1986.
The group later brought the hatchlings to the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans where only a few of the rare reptiles survived, before they were brought to Gatorland last year.


　　鳄鱼岛主题公园的提姆-威廉姆斯称：“它们是世界上最大的一群巨型白色鳄鱼，它们的黑色素细胞并没有缺失，它们嘴的周围有色素沉着，尾部也有一点，它们有蓝色的眼睛。这种动物的基因很罕见，这减少了它们皮肤的色素沉着。在美国5百万只鳄鱼中，只有12只这样蓝眼睛的白色鳄鱼。它们与普通鳄鱼没有什么大的不同，吃同样的食物。它们的长度达3米至3.3米。我们最大的担心是，它们将无法在野外生存。由于缺乏伪装色，它们就像是发光的小灯塔，很容易遭到许多食肉动物的攻击。”

　　由于它们状况特殊，这些蓝眼睛白色鳄鱼住在特制的馆内里以保护它们不受阳光的照射。提姆称：“我们有四条白色鳄鱼，都是雄性，因此不能放在一起，它们的体型都很大，会互相争斗。它们对阳光很敏感，我们不得不把它们放在一个白天只有少量阳光的地方。我们给它们喂鸡、鱼、肉和维他命补充剂。它们有各自的池子、活动区域、可以用来晒太阳的木头板。”

　　提姆和他的团队目前希望能够繁殖蓝眼睛白色鳄鱼。他说：“我们有两只雌性美国鳄鱼，它们携带着合适的基因。我们希望能够在近期繁育出白色鳄鱼，我们将向它们提供烛光、柔和的音乐、甚至一些葡萄酒。”

'This is the largest group of giant white gators in the world,' says Tim Williams of Gatorland.
'These are not albino animals, they are what we call leucistic, which means they have a little bit of pigmentation around the mouth and a 'little touch on the tail and they have piercing blue eyes.'

Leucistic animals have rare genetic condition that reduces the colour pigmentation in their skin.   

Out of the five million American alligator population there are thought to be only 12 leucistic gators.   
'They are just like alligators and they eat the same food,' explains Tim.  

'The biggest concern is that they never would have survived in the wild. They are like little beacons out shining "come eat me".



'They are each ten to eleven plus feet in length and vulnerable to many predators  because their lack of skin pigmentation deprives them of natural camouflage.'

Due to their condition, the alligators are housed in special enclosures to protect them from sunlight - and the unwanted attention of other males.
'We have four white alligators here at Gatorland and because they are all males they cannot be in the same enclosure as they are all very big and they would all fight with each other,' says Tim.

'They are also very sensitive to direct sunlight, so we have to keep them in an environment where they get a tiny bit of sunlight during the day.
'They need to have a bit of Vitamin D but that is supplemented in their diet where we feed them chicken, fish, red meat and vitamin supplements.

'They each have their own pool and a haul out area and wooden decking they crawl out and bask in the heat.'

Tim and his team are now hoping to breed white alligators with two female American gators who carry the leucistic gene.

'We also have two normal females who carry the gene for the leusitic offspring,' he says.   

"'Our hope is that with some candle light, soft music and maybe a little wine we are hoping to breed some leusitic gators in the near future,'  he added.

[ 本帖最后由 alibaba 于 2009-2-17 16:39 编辑 ]