The genetic mutation is believed to cause the mother of the North American moose to appear on Canadian roads with the fur color white.
Present in the right place at the right time, Nicole Leblanc and her husband had the chance on October 27 to see the mother of a very rare white moose driving on Highway 101 in the province of Ontario, Canada. Video of the scene posted by Leblanc to personal Facebook quickly garnered 4.5 million views and more than 100,000 shares in just a few days, according to Fox News.
“You don’t always get the chance to see this. It’s awesome,” said Leblanc. “My husband has been hunting for many years, but this is the first time he’s seen white moose.
According to Northern Ontario Travel, the mother-daughter pair’s white fur that appeared in Ontario was not the result of albinos, but was caused by a recessive gene. These rare white deer are sometimes referred to as “spirit deer” by indigenous peoples because of their rarity and purity.
Moose are the largest surviving member of the deer family, distributed primarily in Europe and North America. Adults can be over 2.1m tall and weigh over 600kg. Individuals of white elk are specially protected under the 1997 Wildlife Conservation Act. As a result, albino elk or mutated elk with more than 50% white body will be banned from hunting.
