Footage of a strangely dappled deer has racked up millions of views on social media this week. (We haven't seen a coat this spectacular since "strawberry" leopards turned up in South Africa!) And while some commenters have questioned the authenticity of the viral clip, we can tell you this video is the real deal

Yes, this crazy 'Dalmatian' deer is real – here's her story

Footage of a strangely dappled deer has racked up millions of views on social media this week. (We haven't seen a coat this spectacular since "strawberry" leopards turned up in South Africa!) And while some commenters have questioned the authenticity of the viral clip, we can tell you this video is the real deal.

The star of the clip is a female white-tailed deer called "Boo", one of many taken in this year by the Fuzzy Fawn Wildlife Rescue in New York. Boo's "Dalmation chic" colouration is the result of leucism, a genetic condition that results in partial loss of the pigment melanin. The mutation is rare, but because affected animals possess an aesthetic "wow" factor, they tend to pop up in our news feeds relatively frequently.

Leucistic creatures like Boo – sometimes also referred to as "pied" or "piebald" – are different to true albino animals, which lack melanin entirely throughout their bodies, leaving them stark white and with characteristic red or pink eyes. Leucism, on the other hand, doesn't cause total pigment loss, and the animals' unaffected eyes are a clue to the nature of their genetic condition.

The mutation also results in a wide variety of patterns. Leucistic nurse sharks, for example, tend to be heavily spotted. Deer, on the other hand, show much greater variation: some are mostly white, and many sport cow-print attire.

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