{"id":118315,"date":"2025-11-06T09:08:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T09:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/118315\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T09:08:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T09:08:11","slug":"from-the-white-iberian-lynx-in-spain-to-the-howler-monkeys-of-costa-rica-why-do-animals-change-color-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/118315\/","title":{"rendered":"From the white Iberian lynx in Spain to the howler monkeys of Costa Rica: Why do animals change color? | Science"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chameleons, octopuses, cuttlefish, and snowshoe hares change color naturally, but the appearance of a white Iberian lynx<\/a> in the mountains of the Spanish province of Ja\u00e9n is surprising, even unbelievable. The animal, a female known as Satureja, has lost her natural coloring \u2014 the brown and orange tones so characteristic of the species. She has, however, retained the black spots unique to each lynx: a kind of natural ID that lynxes keep for life and that allows researchers to distinguish one individual from another.<\/p>\n

No one knows the reason for this striking change in coat color, which had already been observed in another lynx previously. Javier Salcedo, coordinator of the Iberian lynx reintroduction program in the Spanish region of Andalusia, suggests it could be a temporary depigmentation due to external factors \u2014 environmental or stress \u2014 rather than a genetic mutation leading to albinism<\/a> or leucism.<\/p>\n

\"LinceA female Iberian lynx named Satureja and sighted in And\u00fajar in Ja\u00e9n province.<\/p>\n

Researchers point to the case of another female lynx \u2014 possibly related to this one \u2014 that experienced the same loss of pigmentation and eventually regained her natural tones. The Andalusian government\u2019s Ministry of Sustainability and Environment, however, has referred the matter to the ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen an animal doesn\u2019t normally change color, and it does so suddenly, an environmental factor cannot be ruled out,\u201d explains Ismael Galv\u00e1n, a senior scientist at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) at the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN) and a specialist in pigmentation. The problem is that, currently, researchers \u201cdon\u2019t fully understand the external agents that could cause these changes, and it\u2019s possible that environmental pollution could be affecting the coloration,\u201d he says. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important, he argues, to investigate the origin of these types of anomalies.<\/p>\n

Galv\u00e1n cites as an example the anomalous changes<\/a> being observed in the pigmentation of mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) in Costa Rica, with whom he has worked. For about 10 years, these primates have been undergoing a dramatic color change. \u201cIt\u2019s very striking, because they go from being completely black to individuals with orange and yellow patches,\u201d he says. At first, only a few were affected, and the transformation only affected their limbs, legs, or tails, \u201cbut there has been an increase both in the number of affected individuals and in the extent of the altered body areas, and now there are entirely orange howler monkeys.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s behind this? \u201cThere\u2019s a lack of research [to reach a conclusion], and it\u2019s not just monkeys; these anomalies have also been detected in porcupines and toucans,\u201d he says. Melanins are responsible for the black, brown, reddish, and yellowish tones of skin, hair, fur, and feathers. In the case of howler monkeys, they are losing the melanin responsible for black tones in favor of orange, while in the Iberian lynx that has appeared in Ja\u00e9n, the process is the opposite: the orange pigments are fading, and the black ones remain.<\/p>\n

The pigmentation changes in the monkeys may be linked to exposure to agrochemicals used on nearby plantations. \u201cBut it\u2019s a hypothesis we haven\u2019t yet been able to investigate in detail,\u201d Galv\u00e1n explains.<\/p>\n

The most common cause of animals being born with a different pigmentation than their natural one is a genetic mutation. Natural selection usually ensures that such animals don\u2019t survive. One such alteration is albinism, which occurs randomly and results in a complete absence of melanin. In the case of Satureja, albinism has been ruled out, as in that case she should be completely white, without any black markings. The gorilla Snowflake was one of the most famous cases of albinism in the world. He was captured as a baby in Guinea in 1966 and lived in the Barcelona Zoo until his death in 2003 at the age of 40.<\/p>\n

Another genetic anomaly is leucism, in which the animal produces melanin but it fails to reach certain areas of the body, which appear white or very pale. This doesn\u2019t appear to be the case either, since Satureja doesn\u2019t display that pattern.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, both conditions (albinism and leucism) are present at birth, and these two lynxes, according to the coordinator of the lynx reintroduction program, were born with their normal coloration. The depigmentation appeared later. <\/p>\n

The role of 700 genes<\/p>\n

Lluis Montoliu, a researcher at the Spanish National Research Council and the Center for Biomedical Research in Rare Diseases at the National Center for Biotechnology, explains that \u201cthere are almost 700 genes that, in one way or another, directly or indirectly, control pigmentation in animals (and in us), out of the approximately 20,000 genes that both the lynx and we humans possess, given that we are both mammals.\u201d Of those, only 22 are known to cause albinism when mutated, and a few others can lead to leucism.<\/p>\n

But there are many more that \u201ccan alter pigmentation in multiple ways,\u201d he adds. For example, some gradually switch off<\/a>, as happens with silver horses, which are born with normal coloration but lose pigment over time until they turn white. \u201cLittle Uncle, the horse from [the children\u2019s series] Pippi Longstocking, was one of these horses, and before each scene, they would paint on the black circular spots that we all remember,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n

This horse is a model of vitiligo, \u201cpossibly one of the explanations for why this lynx may have lost pigmentation on its body.\u201d This skin condition has both genetic and environmental causes (there are at least 40 genes whose alteration predisposes individuals to vitiligo), and external factors: friction or exposure to chemicals can also trigger pigment loss by destroying or depleting melanocytes, the cells responsible for producing melanin.<\/p>\n

But to know for sure what might have happened to this lynx, \u201cwe would first have to sequence its genome and see if it carries mutations in any of its 700 genes.\u201d It would also be necessary to perform \u201ca histological analysis [tissue study] of its skin\u201d and check if it lacks pigment because its melanocytes aren\u2019t producing it or because those cells have disappeared. \u201cThe latter would suggest that the cause of this pigment loss could be related to vitiligo,\u201d Montoli\u00fa explains.<\/p>\n

To obtain Satureja\u2019s genome, it would be enough to collect a few hairs, droppings, or saliva samples. A histological analysis, however, would require taking a skin biopsy \u2014 something far more complicated, since she was born in the wild and does not have a GPS tracking device.<\/p>\n

For now, she appears to be in good health. She has successfully raised several litters and shows no signs of difficulty hunting or feeding despite her white coat. Technicians from the Iberian lynx recovery program capture a few individuals each year to monitor the population\u2019s overall condition, but they do not target specific animals.<\/p>\n

Sign up for our weekly newsletter<\/a> to get more English-language news coverage from EL PA\u00cdS USA Edition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chameleons, octopuses, cuttlefish, and snowshoe hares change color naturally, but the appearance of a white Iberian lynx in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[54450,75786,85,46,75785,141,386],"class_list":{"0":"post-118315","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-costa-rica","9":"tag-csic","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-jaen","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}