If you are ever out in nature and you see an albino deer - or an albino animal (complete loss of pigmentation) of any kind for that matter - consider yourself lucky. The odds of witness one of nature's beautiful mistakes are slim to none. It's one of those situations where if you see an albino animal, you go and buy a lottery ticket right after (though you kind of already won the lottery seeing the rare creature in person).
Leucistic mammals, which is a partial loss of pigmentation that usually results in white fur but regular eyes and hooves, are slightly more common, but it's estimated that only one in every 30,000 deer that are born are albino. For clarification, those aren't very good odds, and one could argue that the odds of catching a glimpse of one only get slimmer and slimmer the older the deer gets. Obviously, an all white deer is going to stick out like a sore thumb in the grassy habitats that they usually call home, which makes them more prone to being attacked.
Which is a real shame, because that just means that the albino deer is fighting against the odds for its entire life. Before they are even born, a "perfect storm" of parents is needed to create the all white deer. Albinism is a recessive genetic trait (having flashbacks to biology class?), meaning that both parents of the albino offspring must carry the trait. In the rare case that the pair both have the non-dominant trait, they can then pass it down to their baby and cause it to have a lack in hair, tissue and skin coloration.
As I stated earlier, an albino deer's color alone leave them with tough odds for survival, and that's before you add in that deer that are born with albinism often also have physical deformities and abnormalities. Spine issues, as well as shortened legs and deformed hooves, attribute to the typical short lifespan of albino deer. The only real thing these white deer have going for them is Native Americans believed they were magical beasts and you'd bring yourself bad luck if you killed one.
Sadly, the rest of the animal kingdom didn't get that memo.
Fortunately though, this albino deer that was spotted in Greensboro, North Carolina that was spotted seems to be doing just fine. Based on its size, it's still on the younger side, but it's managed to grow up a bit without succumbing to predators. And I know I mentioned earlier that albino deer stick out like a sore thumb... you'll see exactly what I mean in the video below. The animal's white skin could not be more contrasted from the scenery around it.
This rare white deer isn't going to become the "Hide and Seek World Champion" anytime soon: