A rare piebald deer was spotted Friday morning in Falmouth.

Sallie Gardner told News Center Maine that the white and brown speckled deer was spotted along with several other deer in her backyard.

Piebald deer, also called leucistic, have a recessive genetic trait found in less than one percent of white-tailed deer, the Portland news station reported.

Though rare, piebald deer have been seen occasionally in southern Maine.

In 2017, a woman shared with News Center a video of a piebald deer spotted near I-295 in Freeport that she initially first mistook it for a goat. Two years earlier, a Little Deer Isle resident snapped a photo of a piebald deer.

Leucism, a condition in which there is a partial loss of pigmentation, has been seen in many species of animals.


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