White House crow

White house crows were sighted in Singapore from 1978 to 1995. An ornithologist posited that this was an adaptation to the land reclamation that was taking place on the island. A combination of factors such as a lack of trees in new reclaimed spaces made mostly of sand and large flat areas meant that the original black crow became less camouflaged. Another possible reason was that the crows adapted to the heat from the large sand masses by turning light-coloured as normal crows with black coats would overheat. A chance white mutation could have triggered off the adaptation. When land reclamation slowed down, the white crows started to disappear.

Copyright 2013, Institute of Critical Zoologists