Italian farmer Cristian Mallocci was excited to see one of his dog giving birth to a green-furred puppy.
The tiny dog was immediately named Pistachio, was part of a five-dog litter born, all with white fur, the same colour as their mother; except for 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-coloured fur. It is thought that it happens when pale coloured puppies have contact in their mother’s womb with a green pigment called biliverdin. It is the same pigment that causes the green colour in bruises.
Apart from being born so Pistachio’s peculiar colour won’t last forever. The bright green that he had on the day of his birth has faded day by day and it will continue to do so as he gets older. Mallocci will keep Pistachio on his farm and train him up to look after the sheep with his mother Spelacchia. 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.
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