Born Different: Luna the albino screech owl

FORGET the ugly duckling, meet Luna the albino owl from Florida

Scroll down for the full story

Luna was glove trained by the rescue centre as he'd unlikely survive the wild

Little Luna lacks the mottled brown feathers and striking yellow eyes of a normal eastern screech owl. Instead, this special owl is dazzling white in appearance, with pink feet and eyes.

Born unique: Even as a fledgling Luna the owl was distinctly different from other Eastern screech owls

Different from the beginning, Luna was found on the ground after he’d fallen out of his nest as a young fledgling. Luckily he was brought to Peace River Wildlife Center, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the care of orphaned and injured native Florida wildlife.

His striking white feathers would mean he would struggle to camouflage in his natural habitat

PRWC Executive Director, Robin Jenkins said: “Luna was found the third week of April 2013. He was two or three weeks old at the time, so we arbitrarily gave him a ‘birthday’ of April 1, making him Mother Nature’s April Fool’s joke.”

His large black eyes and bleach white feathers make him seem angelic

Unfortunately Luna would be easy pickings for predators, due to his unique appearance

The eastern screech owl is notorious for its excellent camouflage, using its dark brown feathers to disguise itself against the bark of trees from predators.

However, Luna’s ghostly owl feathers and skin are stark white, and his beak and nails appear pink due to the visible blood vessels underneath.

Camouflage: The only place Luna can blend in is under these fluffy white towels

Because of this, Peace River Wildlife Centre had to make the difficult decision of not releasing Luna back into the wild.

Robin Jenkins said: “With Luna we realised early on that he would not stand a chance in the wild. As a tiny raptor, the eastern screech owl depends on his camouflage to avoid predators like raccoons, hawks and larger owls.

Luna's pink beak and eyes are caused by the visible red blood vessels underneath

“Since Luna is lacking this natural defense mechanism, he would picked off by a predator quite quickly. “

Luna was glove trained by the centre and is now used for educational purposes to visitors.

Even Luna's eyes lack pigmentation, meaning in certain light they appear see - through

Robin said: “He loves being handled, going out in the public during outreach events and being on display here at the Center. PRWC is fortunate to have him as our unofficial mascot.”