Ghostly gator glides into zoo

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Just don't call him an albino alligator.

Sure, Antoine has an all-white body, but he prefers the term white alligator. And technically, the blue-eyed Louisiana 220-pounder isn't an albino.

All 9 feet of the rare white alligator will make a Hogle Zoo public debut Saturday. Zoo officials, who showed off Antoine during a press event Thursday, said the 20-year-old is on loan from the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans through October.

Because of Antoine's skin condition, his accommodations require that no sunlight seep through, said Shane Provstgaard, one of the zoo's reptile keepers.

"It'll burn very badly," he said of the gator's white skin.

White alligators are different from their albino counterparts. Albinos are missing pigment cells that create black, or have cells that don't work. White alligators lack any kind of pigment cells in their skin, making them lousy sunbathers.

The zoo converted a greenhouse into a faux bayou setting. Antoine lives near normal-colored American alligators, which are black with yellow spots, several bullfrogs and a few cottonmouth snakes.

Craig Dinsmore, the zoo's executive director, said this is one of only 11 remaining white alligators in the world. A total of 18 baby white alligators, all male, were found in the Louisiana Bayou in one nest in 1987. They are the only white alligators listed in recorded history, though the mythology of some cultures considers white alligators a symbol of good luck.

"They could not have survived for very long [in the wild] with no protective coloring," Dinsmore said. "They were given a second chance at life."

Provstgaard said alligators in a swamp lie still in the water, looking like floating logs. Predators would easily spot any white alligator trying to blend into the tea-colored waters of the bayou.

"In his mind, he's totally concealed," he said as Antoine floated motionless in an 82-degree pool.

It took about a week before Antoine ate his first meal at the Salt Lake City zoo, Provstgaard said. The alligator's Hogle Zoo diet will be a mix of rats and crocodilian biscuits, which contain essential vitamins and nutrients.

This is Hogle Zoo's second visit from a white alligator, with the last visit taking place in 1994.

glavine@sltrib.com