Rare white baby koala is looking for a name

A rare white baby koala is among a group of marsupials born at Queensland’s Australia Zoo in recent months. The female koala is yet unnamed ad looking for a special name.

She is a rare white joey. All baby marsupials are called joeys, whether they are male or female.

According to Queensland's Australia Zoo, the koala's fair coat is not due to albinism. It is most likely caused by a recessive gene inherited from its mother.

"In veterinary science it is often referred to as the 'silvering gene' where animals are born with white or very pale fur and, just like baby teeth, they eventually shed their baby fur and the regular adult colouration comes through," said Dr Rosie Booth, the zoo's wildlife hospital director.

Central Queensland University ecologist Dr Alistair Melzer said he had not seen a white koala in more than 20 years of observing the animals in the wild. "It is something that would be selected against in the wild," he told the BBC, saying koalas had predators such as eagles and owls. "The main issue would be a white animal like that would not have a lot of camouflage."

The zoo and Tourism Australia have asked the public for help with a name, in a Facebook post which has been shared thousands of times.

Suggestions so far include Snowflake, Diamond, Pearl and Djendaladi, meaning "white-haired" in the indigenous Noongar language.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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