For some of Louisana’s luckier residents, they’ve gotten to catch a glimpse of a beautiful rare pink dolphin affectionately nicknamed “Pinky.”
Pinky was first spotted in 2007, according to People, and since then has been seen periodically over the past decade.
However, this summer fans of Pinky got to see something even more spectacular. Pinky swimming with a second pink porpoise that is believed to be her child.
Several peoples said they saw Pinky in August swimming in Louisana’s Calcasieu Ship Channel. Some say they saw not one but two pink dolphins.
Bridget Boudreaux was one of those people and said she saw the pair while on her pontoon boat.
“I about fell out the boat,” she told KHOU. “I was like wow that’s not a regular dolphin, that’s a pink dolphin.”
Boudreaux said she spotted the pair playing near the banks and then in front of a big cargo ship.
“My husband was driving the boat and one jumped 20 feet from our boat,” Boudreaux told WFLA. “We were just astonished. I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough.”
Unfortunately, she could only snap a picture of one pink dolphin. But she did, however, snap the first photo of a pink dolphin that is completely out of the water.
Some have speculated that the dolphin may be an albino but others say the mammal’s rosy coloring can be attributed to a genetic variation.
“So what they get from mom and what they get from dad means they can look a little bit different than that perfect image we expect,” Senior Rescue Biologist Kerry Sánchez of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium told WFLA.
Either way, pink dolphins are an extremely rare sight to see.
“Seeing an animal that is extremely light in color is not something we would normally expect to see,” Sánchez said. “And in my full time here we’ve never seen an animal that looks like that.”
You wouldn’t be able to confirm whether or not its an albino without genetic testing.
There have been only 14 documented sightings of albino bottle-nose dolphins since 1962. Pink the dolphin has become so famous in Louisana that she even has her own Facebook page which you can find here. This dolphin is truly a gorgeous and amazing sight to see.
You can watch a video of her most recent sighting below.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
