Leucistic impalas

A white impala spotted on the Kruger by Ian MacDonell

White impala photographed by Ian MacDonell - To see a photo of a second leucistic impala on the Kruger - scroll down.

January 2012.  Ian MacDonell writes "I took of a leucistic impala this past November about 1/2 kilometre from Shingwedzi Camp in the Kruger Park in South Africa. The pattern shows it to be a different one than the one already on your website. Since it has reached adulthood in an area with many predators its mostly white coat seems not to be a great disadvantage."

Leucism (or Leukism) 
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. 

Click here to see our gallery of albino and leucistic animals and birds.  

See more leucistic impala

• Leucistic impala photographed in South Africa 
• White impala spotted on South African reserve

Leucistic impala on the Kruger National Park - Photograped by Ian Macdonnell

Second impala photographed on The Kruger National Park - Courtesy of Wild Magazine

Having seen the above photo, Romi Broom, editor of Wild magazine, sent us this image of another leucistic impala from the Kruger National Park. It is estimated that there are some 150,000 impala living on the Kruger, so even if just a tiny % are leucistic, the chances are that there will be several leucistic animals there at any one time.