Rare albino baby turtle found hatched on beach

Volunteers from Coolum and North Shore Coast Care were treated to a once in a lifetime sight on Sunday when a tiny, white turtle was found sitting in a newly hatched nest on Australia's Castaways Beach.

Group president Leigh Warneminde described, "It was a surprise. We were amazed to see this small white creature with pink flippers."

The group had been scanning the sands off of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast to count empty shells and calculate how many new turtles made it to sea when they found the special baby sitting on top of the nest.

"It is a very rare find," she continued, "It is the first time I've see one."

The small albino green turtle was a little late in making his way out of the nest – his siblings had all already hatched and crawled away.

An expert from Queensland's Government's Threatened Species Unit expands on just how rare this albino turtle is, stating, "albino hatchlings are extremely rare; it probably occurs at the rate of one in many hundreds of thousands of eggs that are laid."

Unfortunately, that rarity doesn’t bode well for the tiny turtle’s future.

Normal hatchlings only have a one in one thousand chance of making it to maturity, and the white hatchling’s color makes him an easy spot for predators.

But Warneminde wasn’t too worried about the little guy, commenting, “He was quite vigorous while walking from the nest to the ocean."

Cox Media Group