Rare Pink Hippo Found in Kenya
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Wildlife photographers in Kenya were pleasantly surprised to stumble across this rare site: a pink hippo. (William Burrard-Lucas)
Seeing pink elephants may mean you're drunk. Seeing pink hippos? You must be in Kenya.
On a recent expedition to the Masai Mara in Kenya, nature photographers Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas spotted the unusual beast. Pink hippos have previously been seen on only a handful of occasions, largely in Uganda, they said.
In a post on their site, Will Burrard-Lucas described the encounter:
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"After a rather uneventful morning, we stopped on the banks of the Mara River for a picnic breakfast. It was then that we came across a truly exceptional individual… just as we started to tuck into our breakfast, we looked up and gawked, open-mouthed, as a pink hippopotamus emerged from the river!"
The pair dropped their breakfasts and reached for their cameras, capturing a series of pictures of the unusual beast.
"The hippo was clearly a young one since it was much smaller than the others in the group. It was also very shy and tended to stick close to its mother," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Burrard-Lucas believes the hippo was not albino but "leucistic," a condition characterized by reduced pigmentation in the skin. Albinism means the absence of one specific type of pigment, melanin.
Lee Poston, a spokesman for the World Wildlife Fund, agreed with the diagnosis.
"This particular hippo it would appear has a condition where it doesn't produce as much pigment in its skin as other species. It's a condition called leucism, and it would appear that this is a rare condition," he told FoxNews.com.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Strange though the creature may be, it seems to be real, he said. "It's an amazing photograph and it just shows you the real diversity of species out there -- hippos included," he said.
The photographers were thrilled by the opportunity to see such an usual beast. "As wildlife photographers, it is always exciting to photograph something a little bit different," Burrard-Lucas wrote.
"We hope that it goes on to live a full and happy hippo life and that visitors to the Masai Mara can continue to marvel at its fetching pink rump for many years to come!"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Poston agreed.
"It's a great example of one of the wonders of nature," he said.
FoxNews.com's SciTech section is on Twitter! Follow us @fxnscitech.