Carrie Beletz took a step forward as a 4½-foot white alligator approached her through mucky water. But this sixth-grader was not afraid.Instead, Carrie, a student at Sahuaro Elementary School in Phoenix, pressed her face to the glass at Wildlife World Zoo to get a better look at a creature she had never seen before."That's cool," she said. "But I wouldn't want to feed it."The rare white alligator is Arizona's first and is on display at the Wildlife World Zoo in Litchfield Park until May 1. Only a handful of white alligators exist in the world and are usually found throughout the Southeastern United States. White alligators are albino, meaning they lack normal pigmentation. Their lack of coloration prevents them from camouflaging themselves in the wild, often creating challenges for survival, said Wildlife World Zoo founder and director Mickey Ollson.

Forty-five percent of the zoo's attendees are repeat visitors, keeping the staff on their toes to find their latest exhibit, Ollson said."We try each year to get something new and different at the zoo," Ollson said. "It's the world's rarest reptile and I think people are just amazed by it."Carrie and the rest of her class certainly were amazed, as they rushed over to the female alligator's makeshift habitat and expressed surprise."I think it's cool how they have one," Carrie said. "I'll go to zoos and stuff, but I've never seen one that's white. I didn't even know that white alligators exist."

View: Full Article | Source: AZ Central

Looks unreal. Love to see it for myself.

But why are they more prevalent in that particular area?

well thats a first (captured) looks weird...but why only Southeastern United States and not else where.

I think they said he was Arizona's first White Alligator exhibit, not that they're native there.

"Only a handful of white alligators exist in the world and are usually found throughout the Southeastern United States".

Probably because, as far as alligator population goes, that's the place where there's the most contact between humans and alligators.

you mean human pollution is greater....

No...being albino is a naturally occuring anomaly. The fact that most albino alligators have been found in that area doesn't mean that human pollution is increasing their numbers, it just means there's a greater number of humans to stumble on them. It doesn't actually mean there are more albino alligators there than there are anywhere else.

interesting... speaking of else where...any such case recorded.

The Philadelphia zoo has had one for years. Don't know its whereabouts now though.

I don't find this all that interesting, there are tons of albino animals ( the number of albino reptiles are staggering alone).