An extremely rare white leucistic alligator has been born at a Florida reptile park.
The 19.2-inch (49 cm) female slithered out of its shell and into the history books as one of only seven known leucistic alligators, Gatorland Orlando said Thursday. Three of the seven are at the park, officials there said.
“This is beyond rare. It is absolutely extraordinary,” Mark McHugh, president and CEO of Gatorland, said in a statement.
The park is asking for the public's help in naming the alligator, which is descended from a nest of leucistic alligators discovered in the swamps of Louisiana in 1987. The blue-eyed newborn is the first solid white alligator ever recorded to have descended from those original alligators, McHugh said.
Leucistic alligators are the rarest genetic variation in the American alligator. They differ from albino alligators, which have pink eyes and a complete loss of pigment, according to Gatorland.
Park visitors will be able to see the leucistic alligator and her normal-colored brother early next year.
“For now, however, we continue to keep them safe where we can closely monitor their health and growth,” McHugh said.
France Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne called a meeting of ministers for Friday to tackle the bedbug crisis.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday proposed raising the legal age that people in England can buy cigarettes by one year, every year until it is eventually illegal for the whole population and smoking will hopefully be phased out among young people.
After a summer of record-breaking heat, scientists say the month of September proved to be far warmer on average than other months.
Cheddar News checks in with your coast-to-coast weather forecast for Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023.
After a summer of record-breaking heat, September also was far warmer than average months.
Cheddar News checks in with your coast-to-coast weather forecast for Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will no longer be distributing vaccine cards.
Cheddar News checks in with your coast-to-coast weather forecast for Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023.
Author Joyce Shulman joined News 12's Elizabeth Hashagen to discuss the benefits of walking outside, rain or shine, and what tools are needed to step up the exercise a notch.
A study found germs lingering on certain parts of the body.
