TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida’s alligator attraction, Gatorland Orlando, officially named its extremely rare gator twins, who captivated the hearts and eyes of many following their birth last month.
In early December, the reptile park announced that an extremely rare white leucistic alligator and its twin brother were born — the first-ever leucistic alligators born in human care.
“This is beyond rare. It is absolutely extraordinary,” Mark McHugh, president and CEO of Gatorland, said in a statement about the births.
On Jan. 26, the two rare baby gators were given their names — and they’re quite fitting: Mystic and Mayhem.
Mystic, of course, dons the rare white skin and dazzling blue eyes, while her baby brother, who is normal-colored, is named Mayhem.
Leucistic alligators are the rarest genetic variation in the American alligator. Differing from albino alligators, which have pink eyes and complete pigment loss, leucistic alligators exhibit coloration with patches or splotches of normal color on their skin.
According to Gatorland, the gators descended from a nest of leucistic alligators discovered in the swamps of Louisiana in 1987. Mystic, the blue-eyed gator, is the first solid white alligator ever recorded from those original alligators.