White wallaby stands out at farm

The female albino wallaby is rarely seen in the wild but can be bred with other albinos in captivity

A white wallaby is catching the eye after her arrival at a wildlife centre in Pembrokeshire.

The rare two-year-old albino is one of three wallabies moving to Folly Farm from Whipsnade wildlife park in Bedfordshire.

A purpose-built enclosure has been created, with five wallabies now in the farm's collection.

Head zookeeper Tim Morphew said: "We're really privileged to have such an unusual animal."

Whipsnade has more than 200 wallabies and gave three to Folly Farm as part of a co-operative breeding programme between zoos and wildlife parks.

Albinism is a genetic fluke characterised by non-pigmented skin, eyes and hair due to a lack of melanin, leading to a combination of white hair, pale skin and pale, or pink eyes.

Mr Morphew said that in the wild only around one in 10,000 wallabies were albino, so she was "very rare".

"The only other albino we have here is our white chipmunk in the pet centre, and it's amazing to see the condition in such a big animal."

The farm hopes that the white wallaby will soon have babies, which could be either white or brown.

"We're hoping to breed from her soon, and we'd love to have baby wallabies - there's even a chance that the babies might be albino too," said Mr Morphew.

The farm is running a competition to choose a name for her.