Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum)

1. A gorgeous dark grey wild type, the speckling and colors of wild types can vary greatly from animal to animal, enough to warrant a separate post later on. [x]
2. This melanoid is a velvety black animal with blue-grey undersides, it has none of the iridescence (iridophores) found in most other morphs. [x]
3. Unfortunately, this unique copper never made it to adulthood. Like all coppers, it lacks black coloration. This variety does come in many shades, and I find this one’s light yellow base with golden flecks particularly stunning, along with the fact that it is also possibly piebald. The light and translucent skin around it’s limbs and neck probably would have become more solid with age, though we’ll never know. [x]
4. A trio of morphs. The bright yellow hued golden albino, what looks like two melanophore (black pigment) and xanthophore (yellowish pigment) deficient white albinos, and the ever popular pink gilled and darked eyed leucistic that most people are familiar with.[x]
5. Leucistic axolotls can have black markings, this particular one has a solid black mask and freckled back. [x]
6. Half wild type and have leucistic, this chimera is a flashy whoopsie made by two embryos fusing into one animal early on in it’s development. [x]
7. I can’t find much info on this gorgeous enigma. It seems to have characteristics of the melanoids in it’s dark base color, with patches of golden flakes standing out against it. The gills are pink, and the undersides appear to be a translucent white.[x]
8. A wild type axolotl with the eyeless mutation, this trait is said to render the animal sterile. [x]
9. My personal favorite, an eyeless animal with an unknown skin mutation. The skin is a shade of orange-red I’ve never seen in other examples, with thick looking patches of white that appear to be some sort of fungus, though is just a strange build up of pigmentation. [x]
10. Normally neotenous and able to reproduce in it’s larval looking stage, axolotls will rarely metamorph into the terrestrial “adult” form naturally like this one. They are built very much like the other mole salamanders in their genus. You can force the change by using hormones, though by all accounts it cuts the lifespan much shorter and is considered cruel to do. Here are a few examples of different varieties artificially morphed.[x]

Jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi)

1. Jaguarundis are highly variable cats in terms of color, and cubs of many morphs can be born in a litter. This melanistic animal is nearly all black, with a bit of brown tinge accentuated by the lighting. Like jaguars, the darker morphs tend to be found in the forest more often. [x]
2. An almost blue grey and uniformly grizzled coated grey phase individual. [x]
3. Blushed with brownish-tan, the contrast between the head and the dark grey body makes a stunning gradient. [x]
4. A very strange animal, I nearly didn’t believe it was a jaguarundi at first.  The dark tear marks framing it’s brown snout and white muzzle threw me off, as I’ve not seen any others with markings that dark. It’s nose appears to be mottled with pink. It’s very reminiscent of their closest relatives, the mountain lion, and I wasn’t sure if it was a mislabeled younger one with a grey ticked coat. I’m still a little unsure, but the anatomy looks about right and reverse image search results all say jaguarundi. If you think it might not be one, please let me know, cats are not my strong point! [x]
5. The light fawn colors of this red phase also makes it look very much like a smaller version of a mountain lion. Many of the lighter reds have pink noses instead of black, and the markings on the muzzle tend to be white. [x]
6. This vivid rusty furred cat Frank from Germany is cross eyed, and is looking very cross. [x]
7. And finally, a dark and subdued coffee brown. [x]

Anonymous sent:

I'd love to ask for guinea fowl and other types of poultry, but it would be so extensive to do! Would you try if you're up for it, please? (Adore the blog! I thought I was the only person who looked up stuff like this!)

I love poultry, so I’ll see what I can do! With domestic animals, I do them in a slightly different format since there can be a wide range of colors and body shapes, in order to keep it from being too massive, though even when I try it can get a bit huge. *glares at my tortie post*

And thank you! Glad to hear that, I love this kind of stuff as well.

Varieties of Tortiseshell Cat (Felis silvestris catus)

This is a really huge set, since I didn’t feel like splitting it up, so I’m not going to be as wordy as usual. Also forgive my crap fake photoset lines.

1. Tortoiseshell is a sex linked coat of black and orange blended together usually female cats carry, though tortie males with Klinefelter syndrome (XXY rather than XY) pop up rarely. Tortoiseshell & white has some amounts of white in the coat, and the markings can be a little more solid. Calico is a tortie with higher amounts of white, and the three colors in the coat tend to have well defined borders, like patchwork. Side note, his term is mostly used in the US. [x][x][x]
2. Blue (dilute black) : tortie, calico Scottish fold, van munchkin [x][x][x]
3. Chocolate: tortie American curl, tortie & white ragdoll, calico oriental [x][x][x]
4. Lilac (dilute chocolate): tortie British shorthair, calico ragdoll, tortie point Birman [x][x][x]
5. Cinnamon: tortie , tortie & white, and van British shorthairs [x][x][x]
6. Fawn (dilute cinnamon):calico and calico van British shorthairs [x]
7. Torbie is the combination of tortie and any of the tabby patterns. Ticked, classic, mackerel, spotted. [x][x][x][x]

Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus)

1. The iconic plumage and colors of the normal wild type male displaying for the attention of the less colorful female. I found a really nice resource for identifying female peahens here, so I don’t have to figure out how to fit all the ladies in. [x]
2. A darker bird, the purple morph has a darker blue-purple sheen on the body and eyes of the train. The iridescence fades fairly quickly as the tail feathers age, turning them a duller brown color [x]
3. Dark, glossy, greenish bodied with a grey-brown train, the bronze isn’t the most colorful bird, but still very pretty.[x]
4. Cameos lack iridescence all together. Males start off with this darker brown coloration, and are said to fade a few shades during the year from the sun. His train is a light tan, and he exhibits the white eyed mutation, meaning the “eyes” or ocelli in his tail feathers are white.[x]
5. Instead of brown, the charcoal leans more towards greyscale. The body is a very dark grey, almost black in color, and the tail is grey. Like the cameo, this morph also has no iridescence. [x]
6.  The peach variety is aptly named, since the base color and train is a light peachy-tan. Combined with the white wings, it makes for a very light and subdued looking animal.[x]
7. The first pattern mutations found, the black-shouldered trait replaces the normally barred feathers on the wing (like the male on the left) with solid, dark feathers. This mutation can be combined with color mutations, like purple black-shoulders, charcoal black shoulder, etc. [x]
8. A flashy pied, white markings on his head, throat, wings, and belly. Like the black shoulder (and really all of the pattern mutations), there are many color+pattern combinations. [x]
9. Birds with higher amounts of white, created by mixing the pied, white, and white eyed mutation, are called silver pied.[x]
10. White peafowl are not an uncommon sight, and might be the second most familiar morph behind the wild type. [x]

reptilefacts:

crispysnakes: Boa constrictor subspecies and localities

At some point I will do a post with the 10 recognized subspecies.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Latin names, here are the common names for the snakes above:

Boa constrictor amarali, Amaral’s boa
Boa constrictor constrictor, Red-tailed boa
Boa constrictor imperator, Common northern boa
Boa constrictor longicauda, Tumbes Peru boa
Boa constrictor melanogaster, Ecuadorian boa
Boa constrictor nebulosa, Dominican clouded boa
Boa constrictor occidentalis, Argentine boa (locally known as lampalagua, ampalagua or boa de las vizcacheras)
Boa constrictor orophias, St. Lucia boa
Boa constrictor ortonii, Orton’s boa
Boa constrictor sabogae, Pearl Island boa

Anonymous sent:

Could you do a feature on Shirazi Pigeons? Just found them recently and they are so cool!

Sure, I do love pigeons c: .

poothos sent:

do you plan on doing a post on hyenas (any kind of hyena)? c:

I do now! Thanks for the idea!

I should be posting regularly again soon, fingers crossed. I’m sorry for not adapting to my new schedule as fast as I hoped, the new job is leaving me more physically drained than I thought (a good thing!). Hello to all the new followers!

Egg color in domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus)

1. A color wheel of the different hues chickens can produce. All egg shells start off as while before they pass through the oviduct. Browns are caused by pigmentation called porphyrins that is added towards the end of the laying process, and the amount of porphyrins differs from breed to breed. The blue coloration is made during an earlier stage,  is created by oocyanin from the bile. Since blue is added earlier, the inside of a blue egg will be blue, compared to the white inside this brown egg [x]
2. Leghorn: white [x]
3. Plymouth rocks: light pinkish [x]
4. Buff orpingtons: light tan [x]
5. Cochin: brown, similar to light terracotta [x]
6. Welsummer: brown and usually speckled [x]
7. Maran: deep, chocolate brown. One speckled from a cuckoo maran, the lightest from another brown layer for comparison. [x]
8. Araucana: light blue [x]
9. Easter eggers (araucana crossed with a brown layer): shades of pink, blue, light minty green, light mossy green [x]
10. Olive eggers (araucana crosses with dark brown layers): olive green [x]

Happy Easter (or happy Sunday)!

Domestic Ferret (Mustela putorius furo)

1. A lovely lighter sable (possibly pointed?), creamy undercoat and dark guard hair.[x]
2. With higher amounts of guard hairs, this black sable is a much darker animal. The mask seems less distinctly marked, connecting with the color on it’s[x]
3. This gorgeous blaze has a thin stripe down it’s forehead, and like most blazes has a greatly reduced mask, leaving only markings under it’s eyes, and a large white bib on it’s throat. Ferrets with high amounts of white, like blazes, often are hearing impaired or completely deaf due to Waardenburg syndrome.[x]
4. A light silver colored ferret, white undercoat with an even amount of what appears to be dark grey guard hairs, with typical mitt markings, which are white feet and bib.[x]
5. Possibly a cinnamon panda, the dense red-brown color is mostly limited to the limbs and tail, giving it a pattern similar to it’s namesake. [x]
6. This chocolate self is more or less a solid brown color, though I can see a bit of lighter fur outlining what almost looks like a mask.[x]
7. A dark eyed white, the term dark eyed used to distinguish it from albinos. This particular animal doesn’t seem to have much cream in it’s coat apart from it’s tail. They can range from pure white, to mostly creamy yellows, with many shades in between. They can also have small areas of dark fur, often on the back or tail, which then makes them marked whites.[x]
8. An albino (called red eyed white) and polecat looking black self with white milk mouth markings on it’s muzzle, that could very well be a polecat hybrid. [x]
9. Angora ferrets are bred for a longer coat with no undercoat, like this full panda angora. They have differently shaped faces, with an extra fold and hair on it’s nose. They are said to be even more hyper than normal ferrets. Because mothers often don’t produce enough milk, half angoras or normal ferrets are used to nurse the young. Half angoras have a long coat, but not as long and thick as fulls, and also lack the distinctive nose.[x]
10. A pug, or brachycephalic ferret, his face shortened and teeth protruding in his lower jaw. Like most brachycephalic animals, they have dental problems, and I assume breathing problems from looking at other animals bred to have shortened faces. Some unsavory breeders are said to intentionally breed these, but thankfully it doesn’t seem popular. [x]