Black and white and gray all over

Western Kentucky University's white Eastern Gray Squirrels stand out, says Professor Stokes: "They're not as well camouflaged, so they are more prone to predator attacks."

First it was black Eastern Gray Squirrels. Now reader Michelle of When Cats Attack offers fuel for our squirrel-blogging habit by calling attention to her alma mater's unusual population of white Eastern Grays. Our first thought was "albino," but checking out the photo at the school's website, we noticed the eyes were a normal black hue, not the pink characteristic of albinism. The WKU Herald (slow to download, and then you have to register) explains:

Biology professor Michael Stokes said the white squirrel phenomenon is not due to environmental factors, but rather a rare recessive gene . . . the white hue is due to a lack of melanin, a pigment that adds color to an animal's fur.

Contrary to what some believe, these white squirrels are not albino. Stokes said that, although these squirrels don't have melanin to color their fur, they still have pigmented eyes. True albino squirrels would have red eyes . . . According to biology professor Albert Meier, the odds of an albino squirrel's being born in a litter are close to one in 100,000.

Stokes predicted that the white squirrels have been roaming the hilly terrain of Western for about 30 years. "We're not sure how they got here, but I'll tell you how it usually happens . . . especially around a college campus or parks, somebody brought them in because they thought it would be neat to have white squirrels around." Stokes has seen white squirrels all over Bowling Green, from the 31-W Bypass to Cabell Drive.

Meier said that white squirrels rarely survive in the wild because they can't easily hide. But on a college campus, they are less likely to be consumed by other animals.

So the ivory tower isn't just for hothouse liberals anymore.

The White Squirrel Shoppe in Brevard, NC, has candles, mugs and other "giftes" themed on the local celebrity fauna

Update: White squirrels are coming out of the woodwork. Reader Don, "a retired Ph.D geneticist with non-pink eyes" informs us the creatures are common in his town of Hendersonville and nearby Brevard, NC. A quick Googling takes us to Brevard College's White Squirrel Research Institute. According to the Institute, the ancestors of today's NC population may have originated variously in China or Hawaii and made their way to NC via Florida in the 1940's.

Oh, and speaking of fur-bearing-mammal blogging, be sure to check out this week's Carnival of the Cats at Father of All Carnivals of the Cats, Laurence Simon's place.

Update II: Pat, Randy and Emily from Upstate New York sent us this photo of what appears to be a ring-tailed Eastern Gray Squirrel at their birdfeeder. Does anyone out there know anything about such a creature?

Comments

[Newell]

Saw a squirrel yesterday, 9-28-08, in Millbrae CA with a nub of a tail, about one inch long and not fuzzy. Some lady, on the web, saw some in Michigan also.

[Marcia Banks]

Just saw a ring tail squirrel in my yard. He is a large, dark, gray squirrel with black on his face and black rings on his large bushey tail. We have a lot of regular gray squirrels and a solid black squirrel has been spotted near by. This is the first ring tail. I live in the central part of Georgia.
Marcia

[Nicole Morgan]

I live in downtown Toronto and just glimpsed a grey squirrel with grey/white ringed tail. No pic, unfortunately, and it was such a brief glimpse, but to me it looked exactly like the pic above. Definitely was not a Bassariscus astutus.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1158195937]

I live in Haverhill,Massachussetts and for the first time yesterday looking out my window in the tree was a ringtailed squirrel beautiful long pale gray tail with stripes on it and a gray body !I've never seen one around here before and also have never seen any black squirrels either until about 3 months ago when I saw one for the first time I was so amazed !

[carly]

just saw this ring tailed squirrel in chicago. apparently its normally located around the pacific coast central of mexico!

[Deb]

I just photographed and wrote up a blog article on a ring-tailed squirrel that showed up in my yard in Ohio. I managed to get a few, high-resolution photos of it (see http://my.opera.com/debplatt/blog/ring-tailed-squirrel and http://my.opera.com/debplatt/blog/guessing-game ). I've never seen such a thing before, and I came here because I was googling to try to find out more about this unusual coloration pattern.

[Sissy Willis]

Deb: Wonderful photos! Thanks for the links.

You mentioned the rings are visible only from certain light angles. Reminded me of how all cats are tiger-patterned, even black cats, whose tiger markings show up in direct sunlight. Hmmm. I wonder if ALL squirrels are ring-tailed?

[Lynne Harris]

I saw a black and white squirrel yesterday in Waterdown Ontario. It had a white stripe down it's back, a black tail, and a white tip on the end of his tail. Never seen anything like it before.

[Diana Olmschenk Wiehoff]

Hi - we live in Central MN (St. Cloud) - and we have been seeing a ring-tailed squirrel in our yard for the past week. At first glance (when you can't see its body) it looks like a racoon is in your yard! But then out it scoots, and you see it is a squirrel! Craziest thing I ever saw! But following all the blog posts on here, I see they are being sited around the northern central states more frequently as well!

[M]

I saw a ring tailed squirrel for the first time today. I live near Baltimore, Maryland. It was an eastern gray squirrel, but this group was very red. It has a gray tail with some reddish fur but prominent dark rings you could see in any light. All the other squirrels in the area were red and gray. The local squirrels have been getting redder the last 2 years I assume its genetic population shift.

A white squirrel was a celebrity on campus at Tufts University in Boston in the mid 1990's. I remember jet black squirrels in a park in Manhattan in the early 80's.

[joseph murphy]

ring-tailed squirrel killed on highway, Orchard Park, NY, 7-17-12 Photo available.

[Karen]

Just saw a ring tailed gray in my front yard. I live in Delaware and this is the first time I've seen one. (I'm 57 years young).

[Sissy Willis]

Cool. Nature is full of wondrous surprises. Thanks for your comment! :)

[Sissy Willis]

Cool. Nature is full of wondrous surprises. Thanks for your comment! :)

[Linda Hansen]

Interesting. I took a picture of one in my Olympia, Washington yard this morning. It only has three rings close to where the tail is attached to the body.