Grey and white rhea are (a bit like the Torwen and Torddu of the Badger Face sheep), pretty much inverses of each other: grey rhea have white bodies and white rhea have grey bodies and this was very much in evidence today when these two greys gave us the most fabulous display. White rhea are infact white because of a condition called Leucism where there is a partial loss of pigmentation resulting in white, pale or patchy skin, fur, feathers etc but not, crucially, the eyes. Albinism on the other hand is a congenital absence of pigmentation!!
The things we learn when we start to keep new animals... The rhea 'dances', when they run and swerve, raising one wing at a time as they change direction, are part of their 'predator escape plan' (so it is believed): darting here, there and everywhere in order to avoid the predators running at them in a straight line...
Thankfully on our smallholding, they seem to do it just for fun!!!