In some ways, Democrats are more conservative than Republicans. More via the New York Times:
Political ideology helps determine whether homeowners respond to voluntary energy conservation programs, two University of California, Los Angeles, economists have found.
In a study published last month on the National Bureau of Economic Research website, Dora Costa and Matthew Kahn concluded that providing feedback on energy use can actually backfire with some conservatives.
Costa and Kahn merged utility data from 80,000 homes with corresponding voter registration and donation records. The economists found that a Democratic household with green bona fides — paying for electricity from renewable sources, donating to environmental groups and living in a neighborhood of fellow liberals — will reduce its consumption by 3 percent in response to feedback.
Meanwhile, a Republican household that doesn’t adhere to environmental behaviors will actually increase its consumption by 1 percent. The households that received home energy reports reduced their consumption by about 2 percent overall, but the Republican subset of this group reduced their energy use by 0.4 percent.
In captivity, animals with odd pigmentation—especially birds and reptiles—aren’t unusual. Furthermore, animals that lack pigmentation—a condition called albinism—can be found in any pet shop as well.
Another example, an all-black or melanistic king penguin, was spotted in South Georgia. The all-black penguin is very rare. From National Geographic:
“Well that is astonishing,” he said. “I’ve never ever seen that before. It’s a one in a zillion kind of mutation somewhere. The animal has lost control of its pigmentation patterns. Presumably it’s some kind of mutation.” He explained that typically, melanistic birds of all species will have white spots where melanin pigmentation has failed to color the feathers. But it’s extremely rare for melanin deposits to occur where they’re not normally located, as genes control those pathways (in this case, in the breast feathers of the king penguin). After looking through several texts, he ruled out the potential for it to be a hybrid and said that it’s closer in coloring to the Little Blue penguin. “But look at the size of those legs,” he added, “It’s an absolute monster.”
Video of the all-black penguin via “The Early Show”
In vertebrates albinism is usually caused by inheritance of two recessive genes which prevents the body from producing melanin, resulting in white skin and hair, feathers or scales covering the body. These genes come from parents who may not necessarily be albinos themselves, but are carriers of this trait. The chances of an albino being born to two carrier parents is one in four.
When albinism occurs in invertebrates it is usually due to a genetic mutation rather than inheritance. The color of a crab’s exoskeleton is produced by the combination of many different color pigments. For different species different colors tend to dominate. Occasionally an error occurs which causes one or more of the pigments to mask the others. These individuals are known as color morphs. As you can see below, normally a rock crab’s shell is mostly red with some white and orange pigmentation blended in.
The blue lobster is the most eye-catching, however. It is electric-blue in color. “It’s like different skin pigments,” Jones said, explaining why the lobsters had such unusual coloring and one no color at all.
According to an online article titled “Lobster Parts,” on the Gulf of Maine Aquarium Web site, all lobsters have shells colored with three pigments: red, blue and yellow. A lobster may not have all three pigments at birth and it may grow to be red, blue, albino or spotted.
Jonathan Grabowski of the aquarium said, “To the best of my understanding, the rare color morphs are a consequence of recessive alleles of lobster color being passed on from both parents, similar to many genetic diseases in humans. About 1 in 1,000 individuals carry the recessive trait (i.e., at least one of their two traits are blue), so the odds of two mating individuals producing a blue lobster is 1 in 1000 x 1 in 1000, which equals 1 in 1,000,000.”
Except for albinos, all the color variations of lobsters turn red when they are cooked.
There are albino plants, but a plant that entirely lacks chlorophyll—a green pigment that provides energy for the plant—will die from starvation. More on albino plants from the Alaska Science Forum:
Every once in a while the careful observer will run across an albino plant. Albino seedlings of Alaskan white spruce, aspen, birch and balsam poplar have been found, as have albino root suckers from aspen and fireweed plants. Other species of northern plants perhaps also exhibit occasional albinism.
Albino seedlings probably result from the combination in the seed of genes that were recessive in the parent plants. The albino root suckers are thought to develop from mutation in a single cell or in a group of cells, because the rest of the plant from which the albino stem grows can be normal.
As in animals, albinism in plants is caused by lack of pigment. However, in plants the lack is fatal because the missing pigment is chlorophyll. Without chlorophyll, the albino plant has no way to manufacture the food needed for survival and growth to maturity. Albino seedlings usually live only about a week, but albino root suckers tend toward a bit more longevity because they can draw food from the parent plant.
Even though albino plants do not live long, their occurrence is useful to those who study forest genetics. The genes that create albinism can be used as markers to examine the rates and patterns of seed dispersal from those trees which carry those particular genes.
To find albino plants, look for those with white or pinkish leaves and stems. If the albino plant is growing from the stem of a normal plant, there may be transitional features at the juncture. For example, I recently found a fireweed root from which normal shoots were growing up to one point on the root. At that point grew a stem showing mixed albino and normal characteristics, beyond it twelve totally albino shoots grew.
These deer are not albino, but instead carry a recessive gene for all-white coats.[1] With the protection of the fence, the wildlife inside the depot flourished. The white deer are an example of artificial selection. In the 1950s, the depot commander forbade GI’s from shooting any white deer. The deer population has since grown to about 700 head, approximately 300 of which are white, making it the largest herd of white deer in the world.
Melanism in wild cats: Black is the color of choice in some cats—particularly the jungle cats. Black cougars have been reported, but no evidence exists for the existence of these cats. However, melanism has been reported in other cats such as bobcats (image at right). Black bobcats are rare. However, one was captured in Florida in 2007. More via WPTV.com:
[L]ess than a dozen [black bobcats] have been recorded. Most of them in South Florida near the Loxahatchee River and St. Lucie Canal. The first was discovered about 70 years ago.
But it’s more than just a rare find, it can also help bring answers to an old Florida tale.
“For years, people here in Florida have talked about Black Florida Panthers. First of all, Florida Panthers are basically a Cougar. There has never ever been a Black Cougar or a Florida Panther ever found. No record of them, no pictures, no hides, no skins, nothing. but still we hear these stories of black cats that lurk in the wilds of Florida,” says Hitzig. “Maybe we have kind of found that missing piece of the puzzle and we now know what everybody’s been talking about when they say, ‘I saw a Black Panther in the wild.’ But really they saw a Black Bobcat.”
The sanctuary says they’ll be working with the state to run DNA and blood tests. They want to make sure there’s official documentation that the Black Bobcat exists… even if the Black Panther does not. The sanctuary plans to return the Black Bobcat to the wild.
Snowflake, an albino gorilla: More on Snowflake via Wikipedia:
Snowflake (c. 1964 – November 24, 2003) was an albino gorilla. He was the only known albino gorilla so far (although not the only ape), and the most popular resident of the Barcelona Zoo in Catalonia, Spain.
Albino African penguin: This albino penguin is named Snowdrop. More on Snowdrop via Wikipedia:
Snowdrop, an albino African Penguin, born in Bristol Zoo, Bristol, England. No other zoo in the world has an albino penguin and only two or three have ever been reported in the wild. The keeper said that the other African penguins seemed unaware of Snowdrop’s special colour. Snowdrop died in August 2004.
Since they lack chlorophyll, albino plants can’t survive on their own. However, these albino redwoods survive because they’re still attached to a parent tree. More via NBC Bay Area:
The albinos are unlike any other redwood, with waxy needles and frail bark. They grow quite slowly, and have narrow vessels for carrying water.
The albinos can’t survive on their own, and require a parent tree to supply additional nutrients. Redwoods tend to reproduce by sending up new shoots from their roots, and the albinos are a rare variation. it’s unusual behavior for a plant that has evolved to take advantage of its natural surroundings. There’s no known benefit to developing an albino mutation, but it’s possible that the albinos might have some unknown advantage in extreme environmental conditions.
One explanation may lie in the trees’ complex genetics. Redwoods have 66 chromosomes, whereas humans have only 23.
No other evergreen produces an albino variety, and scientists don’t know why the white trees have been showing up. Only about 60 are known to exist, and their locations are kept strictly secret. The lack of pigmentation makes them particularly vulnerable, since chlorophyll is instrumental in generating energy in plants.
Video: Science on the SPOT: Albino Redwoods, Ghosts of the Forest:
In some ways, Democrats are more conservative than Republicans. More via the New York Times:
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Albino oak sapling
