As you can guess, I stand for the relevance of such creatures to cryptozoology. Why? Take the white moose for example. Pretend that white moose were not known to exist. If someone were to spot one in the woods, where the animal was not clearly seen, the observer might later on recall that he saw a huge white animal. Okay, so he said it was a white animal. But can he identify which animal he saw? Unless he distinguished the signs of the creature being a moose (antlers for example), he might say it was an unknown animal.

Declaring the sight of an unknown animal thus means the observer thinks he probably saw an unknown species. This is where the knowledge of such morphological variations of known species is important. If we know about these odd aspects in such individuals of a known species, then we can maybe distinguish if certain cryptids really are unknown or misplaced animals, or just a simple yet rare variation of a known one.

Take black panthers for example: "panthers" have been sighted in different countries throughout the world, as well as in some known for harbouring cougars. The question is, are these "panthers" really what people claim them to be (Example: a black jaguar), or are they actually (in at least a few cases) just a normal cougar (that is, Puma concolor) with a pigmentation "defect" causing them to be black? Indeed, even though most scientists think that black cougars are most certainly nonexistent, credible witnesses lead us to think that the possibility of them existing cannot be excluded.

In any case, rare morphological variations such as this last example might account for a few mistaken identities, leading people to think that these creatures are above the "ordinary" fauna.

A Bit More On White Moose:

When I first posted my pictures of the mounted moose head, I was only aware of two places in the world where white moose were found: somewhere along highway 101 between Chapleau and Timmins, Ontario (where the mounted head and the cow and calf pictures are from), and somewhere in Southern Alberta.

Since the initial posting of these pictures, I've had an overwhelming array of responses. From what I've been reported, white moose have been found in Newfoundland, in Michigan, and one specimen was shot about 20 years ago near Cochrane, Ontario, with another one shot between LaReine, Québec, and SmoothRock Falls, Ontario, in September of 2001. Unfortunately, though I don't know about the rest of the white moose population in the world, the herd of white moose near highway 101 is deminishing rapidely because of hunting and train collisions. I don't even know if any individuals are left at all (the mounted head is that of one poor victim of the railway).

Based on what I've been reported, there are two types of white moose: albinos, which have red eyes, and true white moose, that are all white (or nearly all white), have beige coloured eyes and can pass on their white gene into the herd.

To all of you who helped me find out more on white moose, thank you, and to Marc Gendron and Doug Zarkovich, a special merci for the extra photos.

-Joe, February 26^th 2002