- An extremely rare albino green turtle was found in Australia
- Volunteers from the Coolum District Coast Care Group discovered the albino turtle alone in a green turtle nest
- The survival rate of an albino turtle is slim due to its lack of camouflage
A group of environmental volunteers were taken aback when they discovered a pink-eyed, snow-white tiny baby turtle in a turtle nest they thought was empty on Sunshine Coast’s Castaways Beach in Queensland, Australia on Sunday, February 7.
Volunteers from the Coolum District Coast Care Group said they were surveying a green turtle nest on the Castaways Beach to gather data. As they were counting the empty shells to see how many of the turtle hatchlings made it to the ocean, they were amazed to discover the little white reptile, whom they named Alby, for obvious reasons, still sitting on top of its nest.
Little Alby is one of the 122 hatchlings in the green turtle nest, but he was alone when found. His 121 siblings were hatched on Friday, February 5, and made their way to the ocean, but the extremely rare albino green turtle was still in its nest on Sunday.
The volunteer group’s president, Leigh Wardeminde, told CNN that Alby was a rare find.
“It was a surprise. We were amazed to see this small white creature with pink flippers. It was very chipper and just took off into the water as happy as can be. It wasn’t sick, it was just white.” she said.
Wardenminde, however, said that Alby’s chance of survival is very slim.
Only one in 1000 green turtles typically survives to maturity and experts believe the survival rate of an albino turtle is even lower, she said.
Survival rates for green turtles are already low, about one in 1000 according to experts, and the little albino green turtle could have even more of a disadvantage due to its lack of camouflage.
Dr. Col Limpus, the Queensland government’s Threatened Species Unit chief scientist, said “normally they don’t survive coming out of the nest and when they do they’re abnormal and not well suited to the environment, which means the chance of survival is very slim.”
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