What is Albino

albino Living things—plants and animals —normally contain certain pigments, or coloring matter. One of these pigments is melanin, which gives a dark color to people's skin, hair, and eyes; and there are many other pigments. When a living thing does not have the pigments that are natural to its kind, it is called an albino.

The condition of being an albino is called albinism, and it is not a disease because it seldom does any harm, except to give the person or plant a whitish look. Human albinos have hair that is nearly white, and as a rule is soft and silky, and skin that is very fair and is often rough and scaly. Their eyes are somewhat pink, because of the blood showing through, and they can usually not bear strong light—because it is the coloring that protects our eyes from too much light. Negroes have a lot of melanin in their skins, and blonds have very little. When a person stays in the sunshine a great deal, his skin stores a lot of melanin and he becomes darker. It is said that he is "tanned."