An extremely rare albino seal facing a lonely life may need to be rehomed by biologists who fear it will be rejected by its colony.

Blue eyes and ginger fur set the young pup apart from the rest of the rookery in Siberia’s Sea of Okhotsk and researchers say these rare features could be enough for it to be shunned by other seals.

The chances of an albino seal like the “Ugly Duckling” – as it has been named by researchers – being born are one in 100,000, experts say.