Piebald Facts for Kids

For other uses, see Piebald (disambiguation).

A piebald horse with a Tobiano pattern.

A piebald (pronounced "pie-bald") or pied animal has a coat with large patches of white and another color, usually black. Think of a black dog with big white spots, or a white horse with black patches. The skin under the white fur is pink, while the skin under the colored fur is dark.

This cool pattern isn't just for fur! It can also be found on animals with feathers or scales. Many different animals can be piebald, including birds, cats, cattle, dogs, foxes, horses, pigs, and even snakes. Sometimes, the color of an animal's eyes will match the skin around them. For example, an eye surrounded by a white patch might be blue.

The piebald pattern is caused by genetics and is a form of leucism, which is when an animal has a partial loss of coloring.

Where Does the Word "Piebald" Come From?
What Causes the Piebald Pattern?
Piebald Patterns in Animals
See also

Where Does the Word "Piebald" Come From?

The word "piebald" is a mix of two older words.

Pie comes from the magpie, a bird famous for its black and white feathers.
Bald in old English didn't mean having no hair. It meant a "white patch" or spot.

So, "piebald" literally means "magpie-spotted," which perfectly describes the black-and-white pattern!

What Causes the Piebald Pattern?

The piebald pattern happens because of an animal's genetics. When a baby animal is first developing, special cells that create color (called pigment cells) move to different parts of the skin.

In piebald animals, these color cells don't spread out completely. They leave some areas of the skin without any color. These areas grow white fur, feathers, or scales. That's why the skin under a white patch is usually pink, while the skin under a colored patch is dark.

Piebald Patterns in Animals

Horses

A piebald mare (a female horse).

In the world of horses, special names are used for these spotty patterns.

Piebald vs. Skewbald

In the United Kingdom, a horse with black and white patches is called piebald. If the horse has white patches with any other color (like brown, bay, or chestnut), it's called a skewbald. Together, they are often just called "coloured" horses.

In North America, the term pinto is more common for any horse with these large patches of color and white. People usually just say "black and white pinto" instead of piebald.

Common Spotting Patterns

The way the spots are arranged is determined by genes. A piebald horse starts with a black base coat, and then a spotting gene adds the white patches.

Tobiano: This is the most common pattern. Tobiano horses usually have large, rounded spots. The white often crosses over the horse's back, and their legs are usually white. Their heads are typically a solid dark color.
Overo: This is a group of patterns that are less common. Overo horses often have jagged, irregular spots. The white usually doesn't cross the back, and their legs are often dark. They also tend to have a lot of white on their heads.

Dogs

The piebald pattern is very common in many dog breeds. The gene responsible for it creates white patches on top of the dog's main coat color. A dog is often called piebald when its body is mostly white with colored patches, especially on the head and neck.

For a dog to have a piebald coat, it usually needs to get the piebald gene from both of its parents. Some popular breeds that often show this pattern include Beagles, Jack Russell Terriers, and Bucovina Shepherd Dogs.

Bucovina Shepherd Dog
A red Irish Setter without piebald spotting.
An Irish Setter that is red and white because of the piebald gene.
A Biewer Terrier is a type of Yorkshire Terrier with a white coat pattern.
The Beagle is often a tricolor dog, which includes piebald spotting.
A Jack Russell Terrier with piebald spotting.

Other Animals

The Eurasian magpie, whose name helped create the word "piebald."

Horses and dogs aren't the only animals with this pattern. Many other species can be piebald too.

Cats: Two-colored cats, like black and white "tuxedo" cats, have a similar white spotting gene.
Cattle: The famous black-and-white Holstein cows are a perfect example of piebald animals.
Snakes: Some snakes, like ball pythons, can have amazing piebald patterns with patches of colorful scales and patches of pure white scales.
Squirrels: It's rare, but you can sometimes spot a piebald squirrel. One famous piebald squirrel named Pinto Bean became very popular at a university in Illinois!

The piebald pattern can also be found in goats, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, and ferrets.