It occurs about once in 30,000 births, and the babies are born with extremely white skin and hair color. All groups of vertebrates, and plants and insects have instances of albinism. In some species, the eyes are red because of the visibilty of blood through the transparent skin (rabbits). These organisms lack the presence of the pigment melanin which gives our skin its tone. Albino individuals must be extremely careful about skin cancer and sunburn because of the absence of this protective pigment in their skin