A Ghostly White Moose Was Captured on Video in Newfoundland

Newfoundland photographer Gerald Gale recently caught some video of an ultra-rare white moose in the wild. In the video, shared on CBC News, the stark animal can be seen moving out of some woods and across a two-track dirt road. He pauses for a moment to regard the photographer, looking to all the world like some kind of spirit guide. With a slightly pink snout and almost entirely white fur, he looks very much like an albino as well, but he is neither. He simply carries a rare type of coloration referred to as “piebald.”

Piebald coloration—white with portions of darker pigments—can be found all over the animal kingdom, on creatures ranging from fish to snakes. It is most commonly known in horses, which can bred specifically for the look. However, in the wild it is rather rare, and all the more striking on an animal as large as a moose.

This is not the first time such a moose has been spotted in the area either, leading to speculation that the local population carries a genetic predisposition for piebald coloration. Whatever the case, this moose has a look somewhere between spectral visitor and Disney character.