Rare elk has white fur

Experts conclude that the very rare white coat of the moose is due to a genetic mutation.

A white-colored moose attracted a lot of attention after resident Hans Nilsson filmed the wandering animal in the southwestern Swedish region of Värmland, National Geographic reported on August 14.

Hans Nilsson said after three years of waiting, he could finally record the image of a beautiful deer swimming across a shallow river to enter the tall meadow. The whole moose's body was white, even its gauze wrapped in soft white velvet.

Although the whole body is white, this is not the result of albino. According to experts, deer suffer from a congenital disease that leads to loss of pigmentation. Cases of albino in animals and people often have bright or pink eyes. The white-haired moose is more likely to be caused by a recessive gene that causes it to grow white hair with brown spots, called white-spotted syndrome.

Göran Ericsson, professor of elk at Sweden Agricultural University, said that although the syndrome is quite rare, news about white elk appears every year and it is possible that the number of these deer is increasing.

Scandinavian white elk.

According to Ericsson, Scandinavian elk faces very few predators in nature, except humans."Hunters often choose not to kill any elk with light-colored fur , " Ericsson said. While elk is protected by the government, natural selection can make the syndrome more popular.

White elk is also caught in Alaska and Canada. Researchers do not yet know if the white coat brings disadvantage to animals when disguised in forests. In Canada, hunters banned from killing elk have more than half the white coat.