Animal with rare genetic quirk stands out at San Diego Zoo Safari Park

In his species’ ancestral home in Africa -- parts of Kenya, Botswana and South Africa -- an ellipsen waterbuck recently born at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park could quickly be a goner.

Luke is a rare white ellipsen waterbuck -- the first one out of 278 ellipsen waterbuck born at the park. He was born with a genetic quirk called leucism (hence his name).

No, Luke is not an albino. Albinos lack pigmentation. Luke, an antelope, has reduced pigmentation: He’s white where he should be brown, and brown where he should be white.

In the wild, his mostly white coloring would rob him of camouflage from predators. He could be easily spotted and picked off by a hyena, lion or leopard, or even a crocodile, cheetah or an aggressive hunting dog.

In the park’s South Africa exhibit, there are rhinos, wildebeests and eland. Three-week-old Luke, keeping close to his mother, ventured this week into the common area for the first time.

The other animals were curious but nothing else. None is a predator of the ellipsen waterbuck.