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Snowflake, one of the world's most famous gorillas, had lived over 40 years with a condition that researchers could not explain. Snowflake, unlike all the other gorillas, was albino. For humans, albinism is caused by four genetic mutations characterized by the lack of skin, hair and eye pigment and could increase one's risk of getting skin or eye disease. For Snowflake, his genetic mutation, which contributed to his skin cancer development and consequently, death, was never explained until today. According to researchers, Snowflake was a result on inbreeding.

Snowflake, who was a male Western lowland gorilla, was captured from the wild in 1966 by dwellers from the Equatorial Guinea. Snowflake ended up in the Barcelona Zoo where he gained instant stardom due to his unique albino fur. Since his capture date till the day he died in 2003, researchers did not know how Snowflake's mutations occurred. There was a few studies hoping to find the biological reasons, but the researchers were unsuccessful. Now, 10 years after Snowflake's death, Spanish researchers were able to sequence his entire genome and discovered that Snowflake was most likely the result of inbreeding, which could have caused his condition. The researchers concluded that Snowflake was probably the result of an uncle and niece paring.

The researchers were able to conclude their findings after using blood that was taken from Snowflake and frozen. The team, headed by Tomas Marques-Bonet of the Institut de Biologia Evolutiva at the University of Pompeu Fabra, was able to compare Snowflake's entire genome sequence to those of humans and non-albino gorillas. The researchers were able to pinpoint one particular gene, the SLC45A2, which has also been tied to albino cases in other animals. The team concluded that Snowflake must have inherited the mutated form of this gene from both of his parents. After this discovery, the researchers also looked for stretches of DNA that were identical, which would indicate inbreeding. They found that 12 percent of the parents' genes matched.

This study suggests that inbreeding increases genetic mutations in animals as well. The researchers theorized that inbreeding must have occurred due to little resources and the lack of mates.

The findings were published in BMC Genomics.