White turkey in Texas

White turkey, seen in Texas. Credit Alan Terrell

This turkey was seen in south-central Texas by Alan Terrell. Alan believes that it is a leucistic Rio-Grande turkey, as they are the only species of turkey that occur in that region. Wildlife Extra questioned whether it was not just an escaped domestic turkey. Most domestic turkeys are of the White Holland variety, and are naturally white.

To be honest, Wildlife Extra doesn't know our turkeys well enough to know which it is, butif you do, please let us know.

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.