What is the difference between..

[coyote]

...leucism and albinism?

 

[Karen Hulvey]

Leucistic is an all white animal with blue or dark eyes. An albino has red eyes and lacks all pigment. Eye color is how you tell if a pure white animal is an albino or a leucistic.

I have a pure white cockatiel. He has dark eyes so he is a leucistic and not an albino. Of course bird people don't call them leucistic, he is called a white faced white. LOL

 

[hhmoore]

what she said

you beat me to it, Karen. *shrugs* I was just gonna link to my old answer anyway
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68404&highlight=leucistic

 

[M.Dwight]

...leucism and albinism?

Here is a great little paper by a student that is easy to understand and will fully answer your question. It's about 1/3 down the page...

http://www.ths.4t.com/newsletters/vol10_issue12.htm

 

[coyote]

Here is a great little paper by a student that is easy to understand and will fully answer your question. It's about 1/3 down the page...

http://www.ths.4t.com/newsletters/vol10_issue12.htm

Found it, read it and the information is right on. Thanks

 

[CherryFive]

Leucistic is an all white animal with blue or dark eyes. An albino has red eyes and lacks all pigment. Eye color is how you tell if a pure white animal is an albino or a leucistic.

I have a pure white cockatiel. He has dark eyes so he is a leucistic and not an albino. Of course bird people don't call them leucistic, he is called a white faced white. LOL

Tyrosinase positive albinos usually have dark, not pink eyes. Some Lucys have blue or darker colored eyes. Some, like the leucistic blood, have dark heads, so the question is actually more specific to answer in one fell swoop.

 

[reptilebreeder]

Leucistic is an all white animal with blue or dark eyes. An albino has red eyes and lacks all pigment. Eye color is how you tell if a pure white animal is an albino or a leucistic.

As mentioned in the article that M. Dwight linked, this is not entirely accurate. Unless one was asking "how can you tell if a snake that is all white is Leucistic or Albino" then that might be accurate, but as it applies in general it is not. Albanism is the absence of melanin, not the lack of all pigments.
"Albinos" can have other colors as in; albino CA kings, albino Sinaloans, Albino BP, etc.

 

[paulh]

Tyrosinase positive albinos usually have dark, not pink eyes. Some Lucys have blue or darker colored eyes. Some, like the leucistic blood, have dark heads, so the question is actually more specific to answer in one fell swoop.

There are a variety of "tyrosinase positive" albinos. In black rat snakes, tyrosinase positive albinos have pink eyes and lack black pigment. In boa constrictors, tyrosinase positive albinos have dark eyes and have some black pigment, though less than normal. Then there are the Kahl and Sharp strain albino boa constrictors which have pink eyes and lack black pigment. They have never been tested for tyrosinase activity. In my opinion, one has normal tyrosinase, and possibly both do.

It is also possible to get pinkeyed leucistics by combining leucistic and albino. The effect of the leucistic mutant prevents formation of all pigment in the skin, and the effect of the albino mutant prevents formation of all pigment in the eyes.

Tyrosinase function is not necessariily full on or full off. There can be partly functional tyrosinase. Siamese cats are lighter than normal cats because they have a less than fully functional tyrosinase enzyme. As Tremper albino leopard geckos also get darker if raised in cool surroundings, I have wondered if that mutant is similar to the Siamese cat's.