Pink Hippo? Don't Worry: I See It, Too

"Rare Pink Hippo Found in Kenya"
FOXNews (October 1, 2010)

"Seeing pink elephants may mean you're drunk. Seeing pink hippos? You must be in Kenya.

"On a recent expedition to the Masai Mara in Kenya, nature photographers Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas spotted the unusual beast. Pink hippos have previously been seen on only a handful of occasions, largely in Uganda, they said.

"In a post on their site, Will Burrard-Lucas described the encounter:...."

The hippo may not be an albino, with none of the pigment melanin. Burrard-Lucas thinks it's leucistic, another sort of genetic low-pigment situation. There's a fairly well-documented discussion of leucism in the Wikipedia.

The Lemming hopes that the pink hippo's able to handle abundant sunshine better than human beings who are similarly lacking in pigmentation. It'd take a whole lot of sun block to keep that critter covered.

Come to think of it, maybe that's what those oversize freckles on its back are about.

That pink hippo may be on its way to being a sort of tourist attraction, and could use a name. The Lemming suggests "Pinky." Unimaginative: but descriptive.