dolphinA bright pink albino bottlenose dolphin – believed to be the only one of its kind — has been wowing wildlife watchers in a lake in Louisiana.

Local residents have been observing the unique creature since it was first spotted swimming with a pod of dolphins in 2007 in Lake Calcasieu, a salt water estuary north of the Gulf of Mexico.

“The dolphin appears to be healthy and normal other than its colouration, which is quite beautiful and stunningly pink,” said local charter boat captain Erik Rue, the Daily Telegraph reported.

“The mammal is entirely pink from tip to tail and has reddish eyes indicating its albinism. The skin appears smooth, glossy pink and without flaws.”

“As time has passed the young mammal has grown and sometimes ventures away from its mother to feed and play but always remains in the vicinity of the pod.”

Biologist Regina Asmutis-Silvia of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society said she had never seen a pink dolphin and urged wildlife watchers to respect the animal.

“It is a truly beautiful dolphin but people should be careful, as with any dolphins, to respect it – observe from a distance, limit their time watching, don’t chase or harass it,” she said.

Bottlenose dolphins are a different species to the Amazonian botos, which are sometimes called pink river dolphins.

Click here to learn more about albinism. And if you have any suggestions for what the dolphin should be called – other than “Pinky” – click here.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 5:14 pm and is filed under Cetaceans, Cute, Mammals, Weird, Whales, Wild. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.