Unique Leucistic Impala
Over the last few months things have been a little busy so I have neglected the blog a little but have got awesome material to share over the next few weeks , I am very excited to share with you an amazing sighting I witnessed in the Greater Kruger National Park. Not only to just witness, but actually to get a decent image of another unique natural phenomena. This is of a unique Leucistic Impala.
Leucism is a very unusual condition whereby the pigmentation cells in an animal or bird fail to develop properly. This can result in unusual white patches appearing on the animal, or, more rarely, completely white creatures.
Unlike Albinism it is a different condition. The easiest way to tell the difference between the two is that in albinism the eyes are usually pink or red, and albinism affects the entire animal, not just patches. In the past I have been fortunate to see other variations but none as pure as this.
The image shows another specimen encountered on previous visit near Shingwedzi .
While watching this large herd, they were startled by something and some of the animals moved off behind me. The bright looking impala remained with the last few and I hoped it would bound across a open area so I set myself up with a mid range zoom lens, adjusted to shutter priority and selected a slow shutter speed to capture a panning image. As Murphy would have it, the route that was taken was through a thicket and I managed only a handful of images.
The overall scene is busy but the unique white shape of the impala makes this one of my favorite slow motion panning images I have captured to date. It seems that the unique coloration does not make a difference to predators, as these are animals that have survived up to adulthood. Either that or they use the strength in numbers philosophy to survive 😉
Thanks for taking the time to read and feel free to leave a comment. Get out there and capture the light, one frame at a time…………
Peace n Light – AA
Interesting read and pics…, I’ve never seen one before.
Thanks Andrew.
Cheers
John
Hey John , thanks for taking the time to read and comment ! It is much appreciated indeed Peace n Light AA