Claude the Albino Alligator Makes His Film Debut

Apr 4

Apr 4 Claude the Albino Alligator Makes His Film Debut

San Francisco’s beloved albino alligator Claude is about to become YouTube famous with his own live webcam. The 30-year-old currently resides at the California Academy of Sciences, a research institute and natural history museum.

Claude was born in 1995 and came to the Academy in 2008, where he’s been a fan favorite ever since. Due to his genetic mutation, shared with only about 50 albino alligators in the world, Claude has no pigmentation and so appears white. He shares his grotto with three snapping turtles.

The gator is the unofficial mascot of the Academy, which is launching the webcam to coincide with “Academy Day,” its 172nd anniversary. The event and webcam are sponsored by Anthropic, an AI safety and research firm based in San Francisco. The company is so enamored of the albino beast they’ve named their AI assistant “Claude.”

Like all alligators in captivity, Claude spends much time doing absolutely nothing, so the webcam will feature a lot of placid motionlessness. Patient viewers will eventually see action, as Claude does swim, scratch, and snack. (That’s about it.)

Claude goes live on Friday, April 4. Watch him here. The Academy has webcams already spying on other creatures as well.