‘Iconic swamp king’: San Francisco’s beloved albino alligator dies aged 30

Claude, the de facto mascot for a local museum, was the subject of a children’s book and regularly received fan mail

Claude, the beloved albino alligator who called the California Academy of Sciences home for the better part of two decades, has died at age 30.

The San Francisco museum announced his death on Tuesday and said that the reptile had in recent weeks received treatment for a “suspected infection”. Claude, with his unusual white scales, had become a sort of mascot for the academy and the city. He was the subject of a children’s book and regularly received fan mail and gifts from around the world, the museum said.