Pinkie, the rare pink dolphin swimming around in a lake in Louisiana, is once again making waves online as various reports suggest that she might be pregnant.
Although the animal's pregnancy is unconfirmed yet, an eyewitness said he spotted Pinkie mating with another dolphin, according to Discovery News.
Eric Rue, the charter boat captain who first spotted Pinkie in Louisiana's Calcasieu Lake eight years ago, once again saw the bottlenose dolphin on one of his trips. But this time, aside from stunning Rue with its pinkish color, he saw the dolphin with another animal. It also led the captain to believe that Pinkie is female.
"I've take a ton of pictures of her mating and it proved she's a female," he told ABC News. "I believe I'm first who saw her and I know I'm the first one to take pictures of her."
"I've learned a lot since I've spend a lot of time following her around," Rue added.
If Pinkie is indeed pregnant, then the offspring of the rare animal could bump up the reported number of albino dolphins in the world. Currently, there are only 14 of them that have been spotted, according to the Washington Examiner.
Rue first saw Pinkie in Louisiana in 2007. Since then, the animal has made a number of appearances in the Calcasieu Lake. Pinkie even helped in bumping up Rue's charter boat business as tourists and locals alike regularly hire his services to catch a glimpse of the rare pink mammal.
Despite Pinkie's popularity, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries advised people not to get too close to the dolphin for its own safety and protection. According to the agency, getting too close and comfortable with humans and boats could lead to accidents and other unfortunate events for the dolphin.
As explained by the National Geographic, Pinkie's color may have been caused by albinism. This occurs when the levels of melanin, also known as the pigment responsible eye, hair and skin color, are not produced properly by the cells due to a gene mutation.
But, this does not automatically mean that Pinkie's parents are also albinos. Instead, they could be normal-looking dolphins but have the same gene mutations. This led to the unique color of the dolphin's skin.
Based on these factors, there is a possibility that Pinkie's baby, or babies, could have the same skin color.
Check out one of the videos of Pinkie swimming around in Calcasieu Lake below.
