Spring Run Creek is home to the Flint RiverQuarium alligators, including our star, Moonshine, the albino alligator. Moonshine is one of fewer than 100 albino alligators in the world. Albinism is a rare genetic condition in which the pigment melanin is absent from the animals’ coloration. True albinos, like Moonshine, have red or pink eyes because blood shows through the colorless irises. Because the lack of pigment in their skin leaves them extremely photosensitive, albino alligaors are easily sunburned. They cannot survive in the wild because they cannot camouflage themselves with their surroundings.
