Wild albino rodents? Researchers discover albino stump-tailed porcupine

What is it about?

You’re probably familiar with the albino lab mouse, which is a domestic phenotype resulted from artificial selection and bred for more than a century. However, albinism can occasionally occur naturally in some wild mammals, including rodents. For the first time, researchers have provided evidence of the existence of an albino stump-tailed porcupine from the Neotropics. Recently, an albino stump-tailed porcupine was recorded in the vicinity of agricultural land from northern Ecuador. The report was published in a review article in the journal Mammalia. Generally, the stump-tailed porcupine possesses a body densely covered with quills. But unlike any other South American porcupines, the dorsal quills are blackish in the central portion, with a yellowish or blackish base and reddish-brown banded tips. This coloration gives the animal its scientific name, Coendou rufescens (= the reddish porcupine). The albinism is an abnormal color phenotype, caused by a genetic mutation that affects the melanin metabolic pathway, the pigment which is responsible for mammalian coloration. Melanin is stored and transported by the mammalian melanocyte, i.e. the pigmentary cell. In mice, a plethora of mutations exist, and some of them can induce albinism. Albino individuals totally lack melanin in their skin, hair and eyes; as a consequence, they have red eyes, white fur and pinkish or white skin. In rare cases, it is possible that only the melanosomes associated to the optical systems are unable to develop properly, producing a red eyed, but otherwise normal, phenotype. In the wild, albinism in rodents is a rare condition, and it has been relatively poorly documented. Rodents represent 40% of the mammals species worldwide, but albino specimens have been reported in less than 2% of the species. No accounts of albinism in Neotropical porcupine species were available, until now.

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Why is it important?

An animal’s coloration pattern can act as camouflage and protect against predators: it is relevant in interspecific (different species) and intraspecific (same species) communication, and in the regulation of some physiological processes. Therefore it is possible that the occurrence of abnormal colour patterns can compromise the individual’s ability to produce offspring. In fact, a plethora of pathologies associated with albinism are described in humans and domestic mammals.

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