Isabelline (colour) - in Animals

In Animals

The term is found in reference to plumage colouring in the bird species names Isabelline Waterhen, Isabelline Wheatear, and Isabelline Shrike, as well as in descriptions of birds. The genetic pigmentation disorder isabellinism seen in birds is derived from the colour word and is a form of leucism caused by a uniform reduction in the production and expression of melanin resulting in areas of plumage on the back of the bird, normally black, being strongly faded, or isabelline, in appearance. Isabellinism has been reported in several species of penguin.

Isabelline and Isabella are terms applied in Europe to very pale palomino or cremello horses, animals with a coat colour that is variously described as cream, pale gold or almost white; this is the primary usage of the French (isabelle) and German (Isabella) versions of the word. In horses, this colour is created by the action of the cream gene, an incomplete dominant dilution gene that produces a horse with a gold coat and dark eyes when heterozygous, and a light cream-coloured horse with blue eyes when homozygous.

A subspecies of the Himalayan Brown Bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) was named subspecifically for the colour and is also sometimes known as the Isabelline Bear.

The description has also been used in the UK for fawn coloured Doberman dogs.