Spotted and Piebald Animals.

A lot of wild animal species, like leopards, are naturally spotted--as are domesticated breeds like the appaloosa horse. But this hub focuses on unusual spotted animals arising in a normally plain colored species or breed. Those unusual individuals that spring up, and help make life interesting....

Vitiligo can produce white spots on black cats, of both domestic and exotic varieties. These animals are called 'snowflake' cats.

A snowflake leopard called Cobweb used to be housed at the Glasgow Zoo (see right).

In some rare cases an adult deer will retain its juvenile spots, as in the case of the whitetail buck shown right.

Retained spotting my also sometimes be seen in mountain lions (a.k.a. cougar/puma).

There are persistent but unconfirmed reports of Marozi, or spotted lions. One explanation for the existence of a spotted lion is a mutation leading to adults retaining juvenile markings.

(Conversely some animals like Dalmatian dogs are born without spots and develop them only as they mature)

Shown right, a piebald deer (source unknown, via aniphemera). Pieband and white deer of various species are relatively common.

Other piebald deer pictures:

• Albino Deer At Bigwin Island
• Piebald Buck from Alabama [2004]

Piebald markings including spots can be seen in many species with an incompete form of leucism. For example: Camel, American toad.

Several heritage breeds of sheep are spotted, icluding the Jacob sheep.

While white moose having been seen on quite a few occasions this is the only example I have found of a piebald moose (2009). This one was photographed in Alaska by Hugh Edwards.

And here is a new one on me, a piebald squirrel (sighted in Ontario in 2008.) A rather different looking brown-toned piebald squirrel was shot in Illinois (2008). See another live example here (red and white), and a taxidermy example here (grey and white).

A deer with black spots was reported in India, presumably due to melanism.

A spotted sub-species of the western striped skunk lives on several islands in California.

While many breeds of domesticated horses are spotted it is unusual to see this pattern in the wild. One exception being a small number of Dartmoor (UK) ponies which demonstrate a striking leopard (dark on white) spot.

A spontaneous mutation of this type probably led to the true breedinging spotted horse types such as the Appaloosa.

Spotting my be an ancestral trait in horses, as spotted horses are depicted in paleolithic art.

Less regular markings referred to as smuts or spots are also occasionally seen in horses.

Japanese quail have a color morph that is white with some dark patches, called a panda spot.

This spotted lobster (2007) is from a fascinating flickr set on mutant lobsters.

Spotted Zebra

In 1968 this spotted Zebra was photographed in Zambia. (See also: Zebras with a Difference).

In people spotting can be produced by a range of skin disorders including ichthyosis and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.

Several people were exhibited as "Leopard People" due to spotted skin--due to a condition called vitiligo which caused lose of skin pigment in patches.