ysabetwordsmith | See the Yellow Cardinal

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It lacks the enzyme that turns yellow pigment red, giving cardinals their scarlet plumage. The article doesn't say whether this mutation can be passed on or only affects the individual.

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Crossposts: https://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/4622792.html

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From:

chanter1944

You know my mind immediately went to a Fledgling Grace 'verse yellow cardinal, yeah? :) I wonder what that might specifically signify. And now it's jumped to leucistic robins - they exist, my father has a picture of a local one from a few years ago.

From:

ysabetwordsmith

I don't know ... red cardinals there are spiritual people. What does yellow stand for in Christianity?

From:

technoshaman

Yellow denotes Spirit; gold denotes kingship. Eastern Orthodox uses it for bishops and prophets.

From:

mashfanficchick

How is it that you, in less than one sentence, explained to me why this is interesting, when every single article I'd seen about it gave a essentially the same 2-3 sentence header that basically just said "it's super rare"? Never mind; the answer is because you know what different people might find interesting. Perhaps a better question might be "why?"

Now I'm mostly just curious about the same thing you wondered (inheritability).

From:

ysabetwordsmith

Probably because I'm a nerd. While everyone else is going, "Oh, a yellow cardinal! How cool!" I quickly start to wonder, "Why is that cardinal yellow? For that matter, why are all the others red? Can it be inherited at all? If so, is it dominant or recessive?"

This article gives the condition a name, xanthochroism, which just means "yellow colored." We can put that alongside albino, leucistic, and melanistic for describing the color phases of wildlife. The article mentions another yellow cardinal which has been around several years. People have watched for a mate but not seen one. As female cardinals tend to prefer the reddest males, the success rate of these is likely to be low, unless humans intervene or they find a pervert.

From:

mashfanficchick

Probably because I'm a nerd.

Oh. Yeah. That explains it! 🙂

While everyone else is going, "Oh, a yellow cardinal! How cool!" I quickly start to wonder, "Why is that cardinal yellow? For that matter, why are all the others red? Can it be inherited at all? If so, is it dominant or recessive?"

I've never been the best at genetics, so I don't necessarily wonder about the specific details in the same depth as you might, but I wondered all of those things, too. Thanks for linking to an answer (or at least as much of one as science has for now).

This article gives the condition a name, xanthochroism, which just means "yellow colored." We can put that alongside albino, leucistic, and melanistic for describing the color phases of wildlife.

I may ~~or may not~~ nope, I definitely did spend about two hours falling down the rabbit hole that is describing animal coloration.

As female cardinals tend to prefer the reddest males, the success rate of these is likely to be low, unless humans intervene or they find a pervert.

I am both giggling at and in love with your phrasing there at the end! 😆😍

Edited Date: 2018-02-27 08:36 am (UTC)