May 11, 2007: Albino hedgehog

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Via the Daily Mail comes this shot, hard to resist. And another full story has more detail:

Mr and Mrs Pricklesworth are normal brown African pygmy hedgehogs, so it came as quite a surprise when one of their three babies was born totally white with pink eyes.

It is believed only one in 10,000 thousand hedgehogs are born albino, and few in the wild make it to adulthood because their colour makes them more visible to predators.

But safely inside Bank Mill Nurseries, Beckfoot, near Silloth, Mrs Pricklesworth's son tucks into slugs and spiders away from the harmful rays of sun which could give him sunburn.

His carer, Melanie James, who helps run the nursery with her father Bill, said: "There are three in the litter -- “ Salt, Pepper and the albino, which is yet to be named. They're 12 weeks-old now.

"Everyone who sees him reacts the same -- “ 'Wow... I've never seen one of those before'!"

Wait, what? They had three, two were regular-colored and one was albino, and they named one of the regular ones Salt?