Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Rare White-footed Gray Squirrel

Posted by Kirk
Some of you have been following along with my videos of a pair of albino squirrels that were born at work. I have yet to get the two of them on camera at the same time but who knows. Maybe some day. Imagine the excitement for albino squirrel afficianatos (and shut-ins in general.)

Well hold you hats squirrel lovers. This video's coming at you. Put on your 3D glasses. (note: Video is not actually in 3D)

What we have here is some fresh video of an unusual white-footed gray squirrel Sciurus carolinensis. The feet of a gray squirrel are usually gray like the rest of the body so it is curious that this one has such white feet. I did a less than exhaustive google search and could find no record of any white-footed gray squirrels. This is either stunningly rare or of all the billions of people on the internet I am the only person to care about a squirrel with white feet. Interestingly, I believe this squirrel was born in the same litter as the albino squirrels. Albinism is systemic however so the two abnormalities should, in theory, not be related. The white feet are either a natural color variation taken to the extreme or perhaps some sort of underlying leucism.



~Kirk

10 comments:

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

That is so cool! It reminds me of someone I know that has vitiligo with pigment loss only on her hands and feet.

Kate Eidson said...

Hello, I nave a grey squirrel at my feeder with four white feet and an extra silvery overcoat. Did you ever find out if this is a natural variation?

Kirk said...

I never did look into this more. Sorry!

Unknown said...

I have a white footed grey squirrel in my backyard. I discovered it this afternoon and have never seen one before. I Googled it and found your site. Had to get several pictures to show everyone because all four of his feet are white as snow! So cool!

mira said...

I have one too.She is my favored.It showed up about 8-9 months ago.Still around and enjoying our company.

Unknown said...

I was looking out the window and saw a white footed squirrel. I have never seen one like this. Research brought no results until I saw your blog. I live on the east coast of Maryland. So it must have albino traits, from this research. Amazing.

Unknown said...

I wish people would note where they saw these squirrels. Just saw one in Flagstaff AZ. Aug 28, 2019. Very cool.

Unknown said...

I have one too. When eats it looks like he’s wearing dainty little gloves. I’m in Columbus, OH.

Unknown said...

I live in New Orleans, Louisiana. There is an awesome snow-white footed grey squirrel that visits my backyard. It's tail is very light grey & feathery and it has a diamond shaped white spot between its eyes. Just unusual and beautiful! This squirrel survived Hurricane Ida and a terrible freeze, but sadly her companion brown squirrel is no longer seen. She was just seen searching my flower pots this morning so I put a few pecans out for her to find. I do not know what gender she is but I have always call "her" Spotty Dotty.

Michelle said...

I just saw one on my patio in Southwestern Connecticut with 4 white paws at 830 in the morning.