Colombia confirmed the first case of an albino ocelot, after carrying out genetic tests on a feline with white fur and red eyes.
The ocelot was found as a kitten, weighing just 440 grams, in the rural zone of Amalfi and was first thought to be a puma jaguarundi.
Medellin's Conservation Park undertook genetic testing on the animal, concluding it was actually a leopardus pardalis, a native species of ocelot that is found all across the Americas.
An albino penguin born in a zoo in the Polish city of Gdańsk – the only one of its kind kept in captivity in the world – has been chosen as penguin of the year in an international contest.
Five-year-old female African penguin Kokosanka won almost 83% of public votes cast in the final round of March Of The Penguin Madness, an annual contest organised by Penguins International, an organisation committed to preserving and protecting penguins.
As a reward for her success, Kokosanka was presented by staff at her zoo with a cake made from herring caught in the nearby Baltic Sea, her favourite snack.
When Kokosanka hatched in Gdańsk in December 2018, her birth was initially kept a secret. Her carers feared that her albinism would mean she had poor health or that she would be rejected by her parents and other penguins.
Although Kokosanka was indeed initially rejected by her parents, with the support of her keepers she has grown into a healthy adult, well integrated with the other 84 penguins living at the zoo on Poland’s northern Baltic coast.
She has also become an informal face of Gdańsk Zoo, which offers Kokosanka-themed merchandise to its visitors.