Documentation of Albino & Melanistic Dinosaurs

[AquaArmor]

Greetings my fellow Ark Survivors!

As the title says, this will be a post documenting the weird and wonderful creatures of Ark Survival Evolved who display a distinct colour scheme, Albinism and Melanism.
First of all, what is Albinism and Melanism?

Albinism is a genetic condition, characterized by a lack of or complete absence of a pigment in the body called melanin, causing the body to appear white. The amount of melanin in the body determines colouration such as the colour of the hair, skin or eyes. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Melanism, where the body contains too much melanin, severely darkening features of the body, turning it black.

Both these conditions are very interesting as the animals in the world who are born with it often appear mystical and unique, the same can be said for the creatures of Ark :D Kudos to the devs! I feel that this could use some real documentation as I’ve yet to see any full documentation, let alone images displaying albino and melanistic dinos (apart from the albino t-rex, admit it! We’ve ALL seen it).

I will do my best to document albino and melanistic creatures in Ark, through displaying the pictures I’ve taken of ones I encountered in my many ‘misadventures’, as well as rate the rarity of finding certain albinos and melanistic dinos based on my experience.

As this is a discussion and that I’m yet to discover certain species displaying albinism and melanism, If you the reader have found certain species yet to be documented, then by all means share your photos or experiences encountering them! I’d love to hear them and continually fill up this archive! Together, We Gotta Catch Em’ All!!! (sorry, I just had to say it!)

Here’s how I’ll rate the rarity of albinos and melanistic dinos (again, based on my experience of encountering them, encounter rates can differ from person to person):

• Common – Relatively easy to find, quite literally! Almost everyone one of this species of dino is albino or melanistic!
  
  
• Uncommon – Not often seen, you may bump into one unintentionally!
  
  
• Rare – Hard to find dinos, will require a strong mind and a steady heart to encounter one!
  
  
• Very Rare – An almost once in a lifetime chance of encountering one! Much like shinnies from pokemon.

(NOTE: some species I’ve encountered to be albino and/or melanistic may not have photographic documentation as I failed to remember to snapshot it or I feared for my life trying to! If you yourself think you’ve captured one, post in the comments your photo and I’ll add it to the archive! Also note that some species of dino I’ve noticed have an everlasting set of colours which stays the same for every one of its species, such as the underbellies, while some has always the same general skin colour and have minor colour changes).

In Alphabetical Order:

Ankylosaur

Albino: ENCOUNTERED – (Photoed and Encountered by Krux)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=491137332

Melanistic: NOT ENCOUNTERED – I’ve seen many with either dark grey or full black horns and spikes, but never ones fully dark coloured. all of its species must by default be green coloured for the majority of its body.

Argentavis

Albino: POSSIBLY ENOUNTERED – I’ve encountered here and there light grey Argentavis’s, which to me I don’t consider fully albino, but is along the lines of being one.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=489259625

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED – My very own tamed Argentavis is a melanistic one! While not technically full melanistic, my dear ‘Ashfall Winter’ displays primarily black coloured body feathers and legs, apart from his head feathers being green, I consider him to be melanistic, I have also seen many FULL melanistic ones who are all black including the head feathers. Funny story about how he got his name too! When my tribemate and I were taming him, we had a little argument about what the name should be. My tribemate wanted to name him ‘Ashfall’, for obvious reasons and the name sounds pretty cool I’ll admit, however, I wanted to name him ‘Winter’ as a Game of Thrones reference, that and I could swoop down on unsuspecting prey shouting “WINTER HAS COME!” So in the end, we compromised and named him Ashfall Winter, which does sound pretty awesome, really rolls off the tongue :P

RARITY: Uncommon
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=485790150

Bat

Albino: NOT ENCOUNTERED – All I managed to see in those god forsaken caves were bats with white wings, which just won’t cut it!

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED – In the pure clusterf*** that is a swarm of Bats, I managed to see one that was full black! It was a melanistic Bat if I’ve ever seen one! Though I’ve yet to photograph one to document.

RARITY: Rare – While I’ve only encountered one in total, I’m confident that in that swarm were more melanistic bats, and as annoying as they are, I had no determination of finding another.

Brontosaurus

Albino: NOT ENCOUNTERED – Only ever seen dark coloured ones.

Melanistic: POSSIBLY ENCOUNTERED: I’ve seen many Brontos who while not fully black, displayed very dark skin colours that could be considered melanistic, they were more along the lines of very dark brown or very dark grey.

Carbonemys

Albino: ENCOUNTERED – Now either my eyes were playing tricks on me, or what I’ve photographed was a genuine example of an albino Carbonemys! While it may not be fully white, or for that matter exactly white, this is the only one I’ve seen with a shell and skin colour like this, which leads me to believe that this can be considered albino of its species.

RARITY: Very Rare – Only encountered once, I’ve spent many countless hours trying to find another one like it, but to no avail.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=473185654

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED – I’ve seen a couple of melanistic Carbonemys, which based on my experience would make them fairly rare.

RARITY: Rare
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=487288300

Carnotaurus

Albino: ENCOUNTERED – In my tribes possession is what I would call an albino Carno! (heh, that rhymes) Sir. Edmund Walter Percival, or ‘Sir. Percy’ for short, displays primarily white skin with blotches of green here and there, but from what I’ve seen of light coloured Carno’s , this I consider to be albinism in them.

RARITY: Common
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=485789860

Melanistic: POSSIBLY ENCOUNTERED – I’ve seen some Carno’s whose upper body was either black or dark coloured, but never ones with dark bellies as well. All Carno’s encountered thus far have had light coloured bellies, which could be their default colour throughout the whole species.

Coelacanth

Albino: NOT ENCOUNTERED – Honestly, the ocean and rivers can be too murky to even tell aquatic dinos true colours.

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED – While I myself have not seen one up close, my tribemate has reported seeing a full melanistic Coelacanth with no other colouration.

RARITY: Very Rare – based on my tribemates comment of being the only one he’s seen.

Dilophosaur

Albino: NOT ENCOUNTERED – Of all the Dilophosaurs I’ve crushed beneath the point of my pike! All have been overall grey or green in body colour, and displayed colour variations in their frills, hairs/spikes and body streaks. The colour grey/green must be their default body colour throughout the species.

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED

RARITY: Very Rare – Here I thought their grey to green body colour was their default, until I found this one and only ‘dead’ specimen!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=489260732

Dimorphodon

Albino: ENCOUNTERED – I recently tamed this majestical Dimorphodon who I was lucky to find to be an albino! It has since been named ‘Toothpaste’, for obvious reasons. At first I thought Albino types were a Very Rare classification, but have since encountered a few more in my travels.

RARITY: Rare
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=489305559

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED – One of my tribemates managed to find and tame a full melanistic Dimorphodon, named ‘Raven’. But alas, he mysteriously vanished from our base before we could take any photos.

RARITY: Very Rare – I’ve encountered many of them with light colourations, hardly any ones with darker colours, and a full melanistic one as Raven was, was the only one I’ve seen.

Dodo

Albino: NOT ENCOUNTERED – I’ve encountered many Dodo’s with lightly coloured body features, but never ones reminiscent of albinism.

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED – (Encountered and Photoed by fragkitten)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=490698314

Ichthyosaurus

Albino: ENCOUNTERED – I’ve encountered a couple of albino Ichthyosaur’s in my oceanic travels.
RARITY: Rare
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=489260816

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED – If a light underbelly is an Ichthyosaurs default colour amongst its species, then one with an overall black top body could be considered melanistic. Our ichthyosaurus ‘Swampy Bogbeard’ is overall black with green features. (RIP old Yogscast)

RARITY: Uncommon
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=487452175

Mammoth

Albino: ENCOUNTERED – To NOT see an albino Mammoth is like saying you’ve never heard of Mario! Our tribe once had an albino Mammoth named ‘Snowdrop’, but succumbed to the constant, unwanted annoyance that are ANTS!!!

RARITY: Common
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=485790055

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED – For Mammoth’s with full black body fur, I would consider it to be melanistic, but if were talking fully melanistic, then the Mammoth’s with black fur and black tusks are a must have! Our tribe is in the possession of a melanistic Mammoth named ‘Tiny’, whose body is fully black, except for the tusks.

RARITY: Common
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=489305649

Megalodon

Albino: ENCOUNTERED – My first sight of an albino Megalodon was a tamed one, and I thought that was a once in a lifetime experience! But as I explored the ocean depths more and more, I began to encounter a few more examples of albino Megalodon’s.

RARITY: Rare
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=487306620

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED – While I don’t have photographic evidence at this point, I vividly remember encountering one melanistic Megalodon in those cold unforgiving oceans! The only exception to its melanism was its coloured back stripes.

RARITY: Very Rare

Meganeura

Albino: NOT ENCOUNTERED

Melanistic: NOT ENCOUNTERED

Parasaur

Albino: ENCOUNTERED – I came across this albino Parasaur in my travels, I’ve encountered many that were white in some spots, but never one that looked that this! This could be my first sight of a full albino Parasaur!

RARITY: Very Rare – The only specimen I’ve encountered
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=487396511

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED –I’ve always believed that Melanistic Parasaur’s didn’t exist, and low and behold! I find this guy taking a leisurely stroll!

RARITY: Very Rare – The only specimen I’ve encountered
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=489258922

Phiomia

Albino: POSSIBLY ENCOUNTERED – This example of a light grey Phiomia could possibly be considered Albino, but doesn’t display a bold white skin colour like Albinism dinos present.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=489258672

Melanistic: POSSIBLY ENCOUNTERED – I’ve encountered tons of Phiomia’s whose overall body was melanistic, but had different coloured spots not characteristic of melanism.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=489258582

Piranha

Albino: NOT ENCOUNTERED

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED - Whilst spelunking in a cave with my tribemate, we encountered this rather epic looking melanistic Piranha!

RARITY: Very Rare - Literal schools of 20 or so Piranha's we've encountered down those cold unforgiving caves! and this was the only one of its colour we've seen.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=491062940

Plesiosaur

Albino: NOT ENCOUNTERED – Of the few Plesiosaur’s I’ve seen spelunking down the depths and finding the perfect to tame for the tribe, the only colourations they’ve had were dark in colour.

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED – Now because Plesiosaur’s spawn in deeper waters and won’t follow you to shallow waters, their colours can be misleading, but this one I saw is what I believe to be melanistic.

RARITY: Very Rare
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=487306524

Pteranodon

Albino: ENCOUNTERED – Our tribe once had a full albino Pteranodon named Yang, but he mysteriously disappeared from our base and never returned, and none of us took a photo! (Now Photographed by LookingForGroup)

RARITY: Rare
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=483779312

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED – Our tribe once had a full Pteranodon named Yin (yes, Yin and Yang, they were PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER), but has since faced a premature demise.

RARITY: Rare

Pulmonoscorpius

Albino: POSSIBLY ENCOUNTERED – I’ve only ever seen Pulmonoscorpius with black body exoskeletons, the only difference in the colour around its species was on their legs, tails, claws and the edges of their exoskeleton. Some examples of possible albinism I’ve witnessed was that most parts of their body was white but their body was black in colour.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=489260612

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED - I came across what I believe to be a full melanistic Pulmonoscorpius! It's entire body is black/gray in colouration, demonstration strong melanistic qualities. (Also Encountered and Photo from fragkitten)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=491063107

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=490149307

Raptor

Albino: ENCOUNTERED – (Photoed and Encountered by Khaidu)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=478805898

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED – (Encountered and Photoed by fragkitten)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=490698255

Sabertooth

Albino: ENCOUNTERED – I’ve seen a fair few Saber’s who were all light grey in colour. While not fully white like albinism, I believe this is the closest they’re gonna get.

RARITY: Uncommon

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED – I’ve seen a fair few Saber’s who were fully melanistic, but have yet to take a photo of one.

RARITY: Uncommon

Sarcosuchus

Albino: NOT ENCOUNTERED – My tribe lives along the eastern side of the Island, where Sarco’s don’t seem to spawn, so I’ve rarely seen any Sarco’s at all.

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED – My tribemate managed to tame this hunk of a melanistic Sarco! He named it ‘Black Beauty’, I insisted that it should be called ‘Black Booty’, but that idea has since been rejected. Because I haven’t seen many Sarco’s in my gameplay, I can’t make a proper estimated rarity.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=486310998

Spider

Albino: NOT ENCOUNTERED – I’ve encountered a few Spiders down the caves, and have not seen one to be light in colour.

Melanistic: NOT ENCOUNTERED - I’ve encountered a few Spiders down the caves, and have not seen one to be fully melanistic.

Spinosaur

Albino: ENCOUNTERED – I remember seeing a few Spino’s whose overall body was white, but had different coloured webs and sail. While they weren’t fully white, I consider a Spino to be albino as long as its body is white.

RARITY - Rare

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED – (Photoed and Encountered by Snooks)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=491104468

Stegosaurus

Albino: NOT ENCOUNTERED – The only case of Stego’s I’ve seen with white colours were the scales along their spine being white.

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED – (Photoed and Encountered by Khaidu)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=471325612

Titanoboa

Albino: ENCOUNTERED – Down through the gates of hell was an ocean of Titanoboa’s, both on land AND water! Many of which I’ve seen to be albino, their albinism looks almost like albinism in pythons. (Note that the caves are rather dark, and i forgot to turn up my gamma to get a better view of its colour scheme)

RARITY: Common
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=491063208

Melanistic: NOT ENCOUNTERED – Many of those Titanoboa’s were dark in colour, but none were melanistic.

Titanomyrma

Albino: ENCOUNTERED – We’ve all seen these infernal f****** creatures! Whether were taking a relaxing morning stroll, collecting fibre from berry bushes, or casually taming a dino we worked so hard to knockout, NO ONE IS SAFE!!! And of all those PESTS! I’ve encountered, I remember seeing a few who had overall white bodies but different coloured legs, ones I know to be albino.

RARITY: Uncommon – Whether they’re albino or not, the fact of the matter is that they must be DESTROYED AT FIRST SIGHT!!!

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED – Of all those Pests I’ve had the displeasure of encountering, I don’t recall any being melanistic. If the last Ant in all of Ark was melanistic, I’D BURN IT IN THE NEAREST VOLCANIC CREVICE I CAN FIND AND SEAL THE CAVE UP WITH B**** PROOF CEMENTING PASTE!!! (Now Encountered and Photoed by fragkitten)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=490698155

Triceratops

Albino: ENCOUNTERED – (Encounter and Photo from fragkitten)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=490558097

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED – In our tribe is a melanistic Trike, named ‘Night Shade’, whose fully melanistic, disregarding the horns.

RARITY: Rare
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=487306731

Tyrannosaurus

Albino: ENCOUNTERED – Admit it, we’ve all seen an albino T.Rex! Almost every bloody one of those oversized geckos are either tamed, albino, or tamed AND albino!

RARITY: Common – To find an albino T.Rex is as easy as finding those F****** ANTS!!!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=489259913

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=490412955 - (Full Albino T.Rex, photoed by Jurassic Lion™, note that the body scales on the T.Rex don't change colour).

Melanistic: ENCOUNTERED – I remember encountering a couple of full melanistic T.Rex’s, which I’ve forgotten to snap a photo of each step of the way. (Now Photoed by Dralek)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=491738377

RARITY: Rare

(I will be updating this post whenever I obtain new photos and when new Dinos are added to Ark).

I would like to thank the Devs for adding these little tid-bits of unique colouration for the Dinos in Ark! For me and possibly for much of the community, we enjoy a good hunt to find and/or tame these Dinos who display Albinism and Melanism, it makes them that more interesting to discover and talk about :D

Thank you all for reading, remember, if you have seen or taken a photo of a Dino with Albinism or Melanism, feel free to share and continually fill up this archive!

– AquaArmor

[Nubsly]

o.o

-.-

o.o

Someone get this man a friggen cookie! Or a sandwich... an orange juice? SOMETHING! This is fantastic!

Thank you for this :D

I'll do my best to pass this around so everyone sees it.

[AquaArmor]

Originally posted by Nubsly:

o.o

-.-

o.o

Someone get this man a friggen cookie! Or a sandwich... an orange juice? SOMETHING! This is fantastic!

Thank you for this :D

I'll do my best to pass this around so everyone sees it.

I'LL TAKE THAT COOKIE! *nom nom nom*

Glad you appreciate it :D

[ToNeSy98]

Subscribed to discussion, Great work! :D

[ѕмιℓєуяєι∂]

Very nice Thread, nice work and nice aspect of the game +1 :)

[Tuatara]

Awwww yeah, finally got it all written up. And BB is my one true love <3

[Pizzle]

We had a Black Spino with a red sail until he got deaded :'(

[BigDally]

Nice post! Still looking for that completely albino rex (no black spots, stripes, bands...just white). :)

[TheFates]

I've seen a fully albino pulmono before. I should have taken a picture but it was almost completely white with light blue along its back to the base of its stinger.

[swayne]

When I was looking for a plesio, there were two options, one that looked albino and one that looked melanistic. I went after the latter and he is now named Champ, but he turned out to just be a dark red.. If only I had gotten the "albino"...

[AquaArmor]

Originally posted by Darthrex:

When I was looking for a plesio, there were two options, one that looked albino and one that looked melanistic. I went after the latter and he is now named Champ, but he turned out to just be a dark red.. If only I had gotten the "albino"...

Your story is quite similar to mine when we tamed our plesio! only we ended up luring the 'albino' one, and once we brought it back to the surface, we realised that it wasn't an albino, but it was light blue! The ocean can really tamper with the looks of colour :/

[fragkitten]

I have a possible encounter with a melanistic Pulmonoscorpius here. My gamma is up to about 3 or 4 so it may look a little wonky.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=490149307

[fragkitten]

We may also have an albino trike at our base that I will try to get a screeny of. They're albino seems to be more of a silver like the turtles though.

[Quelthinaru]

Ill get photos later but i have a fully Melanistic spino black everywhere but coral/red sailtip. also have a raptor thats 100% black with indigo/midnight feathers. ill try nabbing screenies soon as both still live! the rapror i actually tamed yesterday..he was chewing at my stone door to my smithy!

[Glacial]

I have a Melanistic scorp, saber, and plesiosaur atm ;)

[AquaArmor]

Originally posted by fragkitten:

I have a possible encounter with a melanistic Pulmonoscorpius here. My gamma is up to about 3 or 4 so it may look a little wonky.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=490149307

:O I think you might have found a genuine melanistic Pulmonoscorpius! Great find! I shall add your photo to the post, thank you for sharing!