TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Unfur-gettable: Puppy with green fur born in Sardinia
Change Size
Pistachio, a puppy who was born with green fur, is seen on the day he was born on a farm on the island of Sardinia, in Pattada, Italy, on October 9, 2020. (Handout via REUTERS/Cristian Mallocci)
I
talian farmer Cristian Mallocci could not believe his eyes when Spelacchia, one of his eight dogs, gave birth to a green-furred puppy.
The tiny dog, immediately named Pistachio, was part of a five-dog litter born on Oct. 9, all with white fur, the same color as their mixed breed mum. Except him.
Mallocci runs a farm on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia with his brother-in-law Giannangelo Liperi.
It is extremely rare for a dog to be born with green-colored fur. It is thought that it happens when pale colored puppies have contact in their mother's womb with a green pigment called biliverdin. It is the same pigment that causes the green color in bruises.
Read also: Jean-Claude Van Damme saves life of puppy in fake passport row
However, Pistachio's peculiar color won't last forever. The bright green his fur had on the day of his birth has faded day by day and it will continue to do so as he gets older.
While his brothers and sisters will be given away to new homes, Mallocci will keep Pistachio on his farm and train him up to look after the sheep with his mother Spelacchia (Italian for "mangy").
Mallocci said that during these tough times of the coronavirus pandemic, green is the symbol of hope and luck, so maybe it was meant to be that Pistachio could put a smile on people's faces.
