Alligator Archives

In the modern age you hear of all these celebrities owning exotic pets. Scratch that – Audrey Hepburn had a deer, Dali had an ocelot, and Queen Victoria had Tibetan goats.

For centuries people have kept more than just cats and dogs. In fact, there are unproven rumors of President John Quincy Adams keeping a pet alligator in the East Room’s bathroom in the White house.

It created a bit of a cult pub-quiz fact, even inspiring children’s books about the story, but there is no contemporary proof.

The story was first written 60 years after Adams’ presidency. Whether or not he owned an alligator may remain a mystery.

Today, though, there are people across the U.S. that call these reptiles pets.

1. Albinos of any species are beings whose bodies can not create melanin

The pigment that colors skin and eyes. This leads to the being’s skin being unpigmented, which ends up looking white. This occurs even in alligators who are born with albinism. The scaly reptile has ivory colored skin. It also has lightly pink-tinged eyes, rather than the usual black and green. This condition affords the gator absolutely no camouflage protection in the wild, putting albino alligators at severe risk.