Don't call me albino: Erythristic badgers
Some unusual badger camera trap images were sent in to us this weekend by Alan Frisby...
Alan has a number of badgers visiting his garden, including one that looks just a little bit different to the others. Alan says it's 'almost like a polar bear'!
It may look like an albino badger, but it is in fact an erythristic badger. These badgers have no black pigment and instead have reddish-brown fur where the black fur usually is. Its the result of a genetic mutation.
Erythristic badgers are usually hard to spot in low-light conditions and are actually quite rare, but camera traps come to the rescue again. The badgers light-coloured coat reflects far more of the infrared light from the LEDs, meaning they appear almost white.
Alan's badger, who he's nicknamed 'blondie', hasn't been spotted since last Autumn, but hopefully he's still around and passing on his rare genes to the next erythristic badger generation!
