White opossum in Michigan

White opossum in Michigan; Courtesy of Joshua Mansfield

This image has been sent to us by Joshua Mansfield, from northern Michigan, USA. This opossum is not an albino as albino animals have pink eyes and no colourng at all, so it is almost certainly leucistic.

We also have images of a leucistic opossum in Wisconsin, click here to see the images, as well as one in Oklahoma.

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.