The Albino Mountain Goat

Over at the 'Breaker, there's going to be a Slate-style book club covering Nassim Taleb's The Black Swan.  As I've mentioned, I've had a hard time getting into the book so far, so this is just what I need.  I'll likely post some of my initial thoughts over there later this week, so be sure to check 'em out.

Meanwhile, in Italy, the first ever albino mountain goat has been spotted:

Forest rangers in the northern Italian Alps have confirmed for the first time the existence of an albino mountain goat—and named him "Snowflake".

Rangers took photos of the albino capra ibex climbing with its mother Sunday at about 10,000 feet above the Les Laures valley in the northwestern Val d'Aosta region, said Christian Chioso, a regional wildlife official.

"This is the only one ever documented, the only one ever seen," Chioso said by telephone on Monday. He said albinism is rare in any species and has not been previously documented among the capra ibex, a type of wild mountain goat with large curved horns that lives in mountainous areas.

As they say, absence of evidence does not constitute evidence of absence. Or something like that.

Comments

[ティンバーランド]

京都府の担当者も「処理の実働部隊となる市町村に受け入れを要請する際の国の基準が不明確で、検討する予定はない」としており、まずは国基準をさらに明確化する必要があると主張。滋賀県も、県内の全１９市町が「受け入れ困難」としているため、県としても検討していないという。

　ティンバーランドまた、近畿で唯一、広域連合に加盟していない奈良県の担当者も「県民の理解や感情論を考えると現状では難しい」と話している。