A possibly albino moose that is occasionally spotted near the Interior Alaska community of Delta Junction has apparently cropped up again, this time near a local bed and breakfast, and appears to have a (normally colored) calf with her this year.
Photos posted to the Facebook page of the Alaska Garden Bed and Breakfast in Delta Junction show the moose, which at this point is likely three years old, with a calf in tow. Moose calves generally stick close to their mothers for about the first year of their life, departing or being run off shortly before the next offspring come along in the spring.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported on the white moose back in 2009, when it was still just a calf. It was spotted at various times around the community of about 1,000 residents, located nearly 100 miles south of Fairbanks.
"Partial-albino or white-phased moose, as they are called, are not common, but they occasionally pop up in moose populations," the News-Miner reported in 2009. "Like other mammals, including humans, white or albino moose are the result of a double recessive gene that is passed down through generations."
The moose has been spotted at other times since, including in May 2011 by a man aboard his riverboat.
The moose's unusual coloring apparently hasn't hurt its love life though, as the calf suggests. It also hasn't succumbed to predation due to its lack of natural camouflage in the summer months -- though she probably has an edge in the wintertime.
Check out the photos, at the Facebook page for the Alaska Garden Bed and Breakfast.