Re: Health Defects in Albinos?
I am with BlackCrystal here, what the guy said was not 100% right and what Matt wrote is not exactly true.
A colour mutation will not "most definitely result in the death of that animal". Since we have brought the pepper moth into it then let us look at it in the right manner (kc had it pretty close.)
The melanistic phenotype is the mutation in this case. The WT phenotype is a pale, black flecked apperance. In their original habitat of these moths spend their days on lichen covered trees. The mottled/peppered aperance of the WT provides protective camo under the original conditions. The melanistic moths did indeed stick out here but that has nothing to do with the "strength" or "weakness" of the gene, it is how "fit" the animal is to selection. In the original conditions the melanistic moths are not "fit". Then comes the industrial revolution. Carbon soot kills the lichen on the trees and colours the bark black. The selective pressure has now changed, the melanistic mutants are the ones that have protective camo and the WT stick out like a sore thumb. Nothing about the actual genetic make up of either morph has changed it is just that now the mutant is more "fit" to the conditions. And as such, the colour mutation is most definitely resulting in the survival of the animal and not the death of the animal. And an interesting side note (for those that care) with the cut back in coal use and the push for cleaner air the trees are now recovering and the WT colour phase is making a come back.