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Piebald Moose Spotted in Norway

This incredible moose in Norway is like something out of a fairytale.

A piebald moose—a huge, furry, almost mythical creature dusted with snow and walking through snow up to its kneecaps—has been photographed in Norway and is now making the rounds on social media.
It looks like a scene plucked right from the children's movie "Frozen," but it's real life. The stunning creature has a genetic condition known as piebaldism, which shows up as lots of white coloring or splotches where normally it would be pigmented. For moose, piebaldism manifests as unevenly distributed large white blotches across the body, head, legs, and back. The white patches can range in color from pure white to cream. The rest of the fur not affected by piebaldism and retains its regular brownish hue.

Piebaldism occurs in many domesticated and wild animals, including deer, horses, cattle, dogs, cats, and birds, according to PetScribe.

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Piebaldism is a genetic abnormality related to albinism and leucism, which are caused by a recessive genetic trait that affects the pigment in a deer's hair. Both parents must carry the recessive gene for these abnormalities to occur.

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Piebald deer are easy to identify and, because of that, are easily picked off by predators. Piebalds often have deformities such as short legs, distorted jaws, spinal problems, misshapen antlers, or more.

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Piebaldism occurs in less than 2 percent of the whitetail population, according to World Deer. The abnormality shows up in every state where deer roam and can vary widely depending on the region and local deer population. Piebald moose are even rarer and account for less than 1 percent of the population, according to A-Z Animals.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word piebald originates from a combination of "pie," from magpie, and "bald," which can mean marked with white. This usage is also found in the word "skewbald," an adjective used to describe animals marked with patches of white and any other color but black.

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