White crocodile 'Pearl' may be relative of part-albino croc shot after Adelaide River fatal attack
Updated
A rare white crocodile spotted in the Adelaide River outside of Darwin may be related to an infamous part-albino croc which was shot dead after it killed a fisherman.
Ecologist Shai Ager was on a tourist cruise on the river yesterday when the three-metre croc known as Pearl was seen.
"We saw the white albino crocodile and, as far as I'm aware, it was only seen last November so a lot of people weren't sure if it was still alive or not, so it's really good news to see that it's alive and it's almost three metres long now," Ms Ager said.
The Adelaide River was also home to a 4.5m saltwater crocodile with an albino head known as Michael Jackson, which was hunted down and killed after it took a fisherman who ventured into the water in 2014.
An expert said at the time of its death, the crocodile was a one-in-100-million rarity.
It is now suspected Pearl could be a relative of the croc known as Michael Jackson, which was believed to be 40 to 60 years old.
"It's not just the head — the whole body was white," Ms Ager said.
"There was a little bit of black speckle, but it wasn't like the old Michael Jackson crocodile."
"So a lot of people are saying it's maybe a child or distant relative of the Michael Jackson crocodile, which is extremely special for a lot of conservationists and scientists."
Albino crocodile hatchlings are not uncommon, but it is unusual for them to survive to adulthood, Ms Ager said.
"They can be a little less rare when they're younger but most of them don't survive to maturity, so to see a three-metre crocodile — a white crocodile like this— in the wild is just amazing, it's just very rare," she said.
Michael Jackson the croc was well known to locals, tour operators and researchers, and was easy to locate, but it is understood Pearl is new to the area.
Topics: animals, human-interest, crocodile, darwin-0800, nt
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