Prepare yourself for a look at a rare albino caribou calf photographed possibly for the first time
A rare albino caribou calf was photographed in the remote skies north of Fairbanks, Alaska, on a routine survey flight last month, and biologists say the sighting may be the first time an albino calf has ever been captured on camera.
Jordan Pruszenski, a biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, was conducting a standard late‑June calf‑survival check when a white speck caught her eye. “I’m just like, ‘What is happening’,” she told KOTZ, explaining how she and the pilot saw the creature from the air, then turned back for a closer look. “You could totally see it like on the horizon, and then it steps onto like the snow patch and totally disappears.”
The pilot’s return to the spot gave Pruszenski the chance to snap several photographs. The calf’s coat is pure white, its eyes a startling red, and its hooves pink—an unusual combination that makes the young animal highly visible to predators. “Once it steps off of the snow it just really stands out,” Pruszenski said. “So we’re really not sure how long it’ll last.”
The sighting comes on the heels of a 1976 observation of an albino calf in Alaska, noted through a spotting scope but never photographed. Because the Department did not fit a collar on the calf or its mother, researchers have no way to track its fate beyond the one‑month check that prompted the flight.
The calf’s herd name has not been released by the Department, a decision intended to prevent people from crowding in or disturbing the young animal. “If you happen to see it, it’d be great to let us know. But what we don’t really want is people to really be trying to bother this caribou,” Pruszenski said. “We want to be able to give it its best shot, which will be to kind of just let it be a normal caribou.”
Alaska’s caribou herds are already challenged by harsh winter conditions and increasing predator pressure. An albino calf’s conspicuous appearance only adds to its vulnerability, according to the Department’s assessment. While the Department continues its monitoring of the herd’s overall health, it is uncertain whether the young white caribou will survive to adulthood.
The photographs, taken from a small aircraft, have already drawn attention from wildlife enthusiasts and photographers across the state. The Department urges the public to remain respectful of wildlife and to contact authorities if they come across the calf, rather than attempting to photograph or approach it themselves.
For now, the albino calf remains a fleeting, almost mythical sight in Alaska’s tundra. If the photographs are anything to go by, it is a reminder of the rare and unexpected wonders that still exist in the state’s wilderness, and of the delicate balance between curiosity and conservation.