Albino alligator, rare white gators from Gatorland in Orlando get new home

ORLANDO – Gatorland has built new homes for some of its most distinctive-looking residents, thus creating an exhibit for a rare albino gator and two even-more-rare leucistic gators.

The White Gator Swamp will be the site of a baby gator boom, officials hope. Those very light-skinned residents are now being encouraged to make offspring.

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“It’s the largest breeding facility for white alligators anywhere in the world,” said Mark McHugh, CEO of Gatorland.

The white gators were introduced to their new digs on Oct. 4. Leucistic gator Trezos hesitated to enter the waters, while his brother, Feros Zombi, dived off the side of a ramp after raw-chicken inspiration. Albino alligator Pearl did a reptilian sort of strut before making a splash. Albino gators have no pigment at all, while leucistics have some coloring in their skins.

All three have separate waters and potential mates to explore.

The leucistics have been living in a smaller, mostly enclosed Gatorland space since arriving from the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans a decade ago. Their new open-air structures, constructed on the south end of the attraction near Swamp Walk, have tarps overhead for protection from the sun. (Jewan, Gatorland’s third leucistic gator, remains in Gator Spot, a feature of Fun Spot attraction near International Drive.)

“We’re really proud that all of our alligators had big, beautiful, natural exhibits with fish and turtles and birds and everything else around them,” McHugh said. “It just stimulates them to do what gators do best – eat, lay around in the sun and make babies.”

Getting the leucistic gators to reproduce would be a big deal. There are only 10 or 11 of them in the world, McHugh said. Those animals, a set of brothers, were found in a swamp in Louisiana. Their coloring – really, the complete opposite of camouflage – made it unsafe for them to stay there. At Gatorland, their potential mates are, well, traditionally colored, but it’s thought they carry the leucistic gene.

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“It’s just going to be a roll of the dice. We’re really not sure,” McHugh said. “It’s uncharted water. There’s never been any of these baby leucistics born anywhere.”

Aside from introducing the potential mates in the new exhibit, Gatorland isn’t trying to spur any romance, he said.

“Yeah, they breed once a year, and they kind of get their own libido going,” McHugh said. “Alligators get in the mood in the springtime.”

Across Florida, alligators lay eggs in June, and then hatchlings could appear in August. Their coloring would be unknown until they dramatically poke their heads out next summer, McHugh said.

The backdrop of the gators’ new home has an old Florida feel, with faux storefronts for establishments, including Owen Jr.’s Everything Emporium, Sue’s Sunset Motel and Joann’s Farm Fresh Fixin’s Diner. These are shout-outs to the second-generation of owners, including two children of Gatorland founder Owen Godwin.

“This is the first tribute to our second generation that’s been working in our park since 1949, and they’re the reason that we’re here today,” McHugh said.