Albino Gorilla Mystery Solved - 'Snowflakes' Was Result Of Inbreeding

Snowflakes, an albino gorilla, has been a celebrity in the Barcelona Zoo for over 40 years because of his unique color. And all throughout this period, scientists tried to find out what caused the Western lowland gorilla's pigmentation, or lack thereof. On Monday, the answer to the mystery was finally revealed.

Snowflakes was born in the wild and was captured by villagers of the Equatorial Guinea in 1966. Since being under the zoo's protection, the gorilla has attracted fans and scientists alike for his distinct white color. However, in November 2003, Snowflakes died of skin cancer--a common illness among albino animals.

After years of studying Snowflakes' case, scientists have finally found the reason for his one-of-a-kind color.

On Monday, scientists revealed that the probable cause for the gorilla's color-free complexion was inbreeding. This occurs when a gorilla is an offspring of an uncle and a niece.

Using frozen blood specimen, researchers in the Institu de Biologia Evolutiva at the University of Pompeu Fabra, led by Tomas Marques-Bonet, looked into the whole genome of the ape. By comparing the genome of human beings and non-albino gorillas, the group was able to pinpoint the probably cause behind Snowflake's albinism: a gene known as SLC45A2.

SLC45A2 is the same gene associated to albinism in mice, chickens, horses, and some species of fish. Marques-Bonet says that the gorilla inherited the gene from both his parents.

The team of researchers also found that 12 percent of DNA stretches from the ape's parents were actually identical--a figure that could only be possible from an uncle and a niece mating.

Marques-Bonet says that there were no other inbreeding practices reported among Western lowland gorillas. However, he further noted that it could have been possible with habitat loss, wherein gorillas find it difficult to disperse from their original family.

"If we are reducing much more the space that they have now, it is more likely that they will be forced to stay in the group and that will increase the consanguinity," he explains.

The study conducted on Snowflake's blood is just a portion of a larger study, Marques-Bonet emphasizes. There will be more sequences of projects on wild-born gorillas and chimpanzees. This aims to further understand the many genetic variations in wild apes. And since, the primates are the closest cousins of human beings, these studies would provide better understanding on homo sapiens as well.