Snowflake the gorilla's albinism traced to inbreeding

Snowflake, the white-coated western lowland gorilla who lived at Barcelona Zoo from 1966 until his death in 2003, was one of the most studied non-human primates of the twentieth century. The question of why he had albinism took decades to answer.

A genetic analysis, reported by The Christian Science Monitor, found that Snowflake's parents were closely related — specifically, an uncle and niece. The study determined that this inbreeding produced the rare recessive gene combination responsible for his lack of pigmentation.

Researchers sequenced Snowflake's genome and identified the precise mutation in a gene called SLC45A2, according to the study. That gene plays a role in melanin production across many species, including humans. The same gene is associated with a form of albinism in people.

The finding is significant beyond Snowflake himself. It offers a molecular confirmation that the genetic pathways underlying albinism are broadly shared across primates — and that inbreeding, which reduces genetic diversity, raises the probability of two copies of a rare recessive variant appearing in the same individual.

Snowflake was estimated to have been born in the wild, in Equatorial Guinea, before being brought to Barcelona as an infant. He fathered more than twenty offspring during his time at the zoo, none of whom showed signs of albinism, the Christian Science Monitor reported. That outcome is consistent with a recessive inheritance pattern.

The research was led by a team at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Barcelona. Their analysis drew on a full genome sequence — one of the first produced for a non-human primate with albinism — and cross-referenced it with data from wild gorilla populations to estimate the degree of relatedness between Snowflake's parents.

For researchers studying albinism across species, the study adds a precise data point: a named individual, a known gene, a confirmed mechanism.