There are five tables on this page, the first three of which apply to the Eastern Gray Squirrel Sciurus carolinensis. The first table lists colonies of squirrels with a persistent white coat variant as defined below (1) but with pigmentation in either the eyes or localized patches of fur (e.g., head patch, dorsal stripe, paws, nails, etc.). The second table lists colonies with a presumed persistent albino variant with no known melanin production; thus, the coat is completely white and eyes are either pink or blue. The third table lists isolated sighting of white squirrels of all varieties. Most of these have all white coats but dark eyes (leucism). They probably arise sporadically by mutation only to disappear until another sporadic variant appears, i.e., the allele is not persistent in the population. The fourth and fifth tables list sightings that are believed to be of Fox and Red Squirrels, respectively. These latter two tables are much less complete. Although the order in the tables may appear somewhat random, my intent was to begin with sightings close to home, i.e., Brevard NC in western North Carolina, and then proceed to list sightings in a counter-clockwise procession.
1 I am using a rather "liberal" definition of a colony. Dr. John Stencel of Olney Illinois restricts the use of "colony" to those locations in which at least 20 squirrels (in absolute numbers) are regularly observed to be white variants. Here I list all those communities in which white variants are repeatedly or regularly observed without any attempt to set limits since those populations are probably harboring a permanent reservoir of the white-predisposing gene(s).
Colonies1 with Stable White Color Variant (with
localized pigmentation)
* If Location is hypertexted
click on it for photo.
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Research Institute |
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| Walkertown NC | Same markings as above. Supposedly former Brevard NC residents who relocated to Walkertown (north of Winston-Salem) missed their white squirrels from home, and returned to Brevard to capture some which they released in Walkertown. This allegedly happened in the mid-1990's. | |
| Denver NC |
R. B. Black (6 February 2005) |
Solid white with dark eyes. Has seen daily since 1989. Not uncommon to see 4-5 at a time within a % mile areas surrounding Lake Norman (south of Denver) |
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including Brevard, Osceola, Polk Counties |
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Dark eyes, head patch and dorsal stripe |
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Sopchoppy FL |
Tallahassee Museum of History and Science |
dorsal stripe maintained in native zoo in Tallahassee. Derived from Sawdust FL ~20miles to West. Similar variant found near Sopchoppy ~40 miles SW of Tallahassee. |
| Crawfordville Fl | Second hand report |
East of Apalachicola National Forest not far from Sopchoppy colony mentioned
above. Sighted on 5th fairway of Wildwood Country Club. |
| Panacea FL | Trish Davenport |
At least four. Observed dorsal stripe on one. On Gulf coast about 30 miles from Sopchoppy so could be on margins of that large colony. |
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with dark eyes from Key Largo |
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which appear to change with time |
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have ties to Brevard NC area. Possible transplant. Dark eyes but nohead patch or dorsal stripe. |
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Olney Central College Olney IL 62450 |
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Photos by Larry Foust |
| Brighton MI | Gretchen Solia (15 September 2007) | Fur yellow-white. Dark eyes. Persistent over 15 years. |
| Minneapolis MN |
Jonathan Sarge (22 September 2004) |
Found in low frequency over a wide area |
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Biology Department Western Kentucky Univ. |
~10 more in town. White with dark eyes. |
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Jan Palubicki |
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www.rpi.edu/web/albino-squirrel |
including on Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute campus |
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2) Monica L. Wilson |
1. Dark eyes. Faint shoulder patch on at least one. 2.) Dark eyes but no other pigmentation |
2 Stencel,
John E., Lynette Stencel Lamp, and Denise Stencel Gottfried. The Olney
Albino Gray
Squirrel: Research in the Community. Unpublished Manuscript. Also see: Weekes, Bill. 1995. White Water, White Fur. The State: Down
Home in North Carolina. Volume 62, No. 11(April): 24-28. .
Albino Colonies
* If Location is hypertexted click on it for photo.
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Olney Central College |
(all time low 15.6% 1990) |
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Olney Central College |
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Olney Central College |
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Olney Central College |
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Olney Central College |
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Olney Central College Olney IL 62450 |
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Olney Central College |
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University of Louisville |
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Lander College |
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** Photos courtesy of Craig S. Thom (www.thom.org/gallery/squirrels.html)
2 Stencel, John E., Lynette Stencel Lamp, and Denise Stencel Gottfried.
The
Olney Albino Gray Squirrel: Research in the Community.
Unpublished Manuscript. Also see: Weekes, Bill. 1995. White Water,
White Fur. The State: Down Home in North Carolina. Volume 62, No. 11(April):
24-28.
Isolated Sightings3
* If Location is hypertexted click on it for photo.
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but not since. |
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| Asheville NC (West) | Enka/Candler Area including both S. of I-40 (Beaverdam) and also N. of I-40 | |
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Asheville NC (East) |
Larry Davis |
Same markings as Brevard. Sighting along Azalea Road, about 100 yards south of the intersection of Azalea Road highway 70 not far from Blue Ridge Parkway |
| Polk County NC | Jay Alexander |
Dark eyes and dorsal stripe
similar to Brevard pattern. One mile up Skyuka Mountain Rd. (from Skyuka Rd.) |
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| Tryon NC | (30 May 2005) | 4 on Red Fox Golf Course |
| Saluda NC | Judy Wilkes (30 April 2005) | |
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The State (Oct 95) |
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| Ewing NC | Julie Martin (12 August 2008) | Cream color. |
| Raleigh NC | Dale Tiska | Brown eyes |
| Raleigh NC | Sal Scarfone (20 June 2007) | Dark eyes. |
| Aiken SC | Michael H. Feeley (25 August 2008) | Dark eyes. |
| Memphis TN | Caleb J. Trent | At least 4 in a single park. Gene may be well established in local gene pool |
| Sevierville TN | Mike Blair | |
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| Sterling VA | Dark Eyes | |
| Reston VA | Diane P. (4 September 2007) | |
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| Washington DC | John Lockwood (Source: 6 May 2008 Transylvania Times) | Some have gray tails |
| Bethesda MD | ||
| Essex MD | Steve Sears (13 November 2003) | NE of Baltimore (21221) |
| Queenstown MD | Diana Prentice (18 September 2007) | |
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| Williams Township, a suburb of Easton PA | Peter Broh (17 January 2008)l | Tan on edge of tail.. Easton is near NJ border. |
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Long Island NY |
Suzan Kraus |
Several; at least one albino. |
| Goshen NY | Joan Benson (5 July 2007) | 50 miles North of NY City. |
| Stillwater NY | Jim Champlin (31 May 2005) | 30 miles N. Albany. 15 miles N. of Troy where there is a reported colony. |
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| Andover MA | Jennie Reid (5 July 2007) | A friend saw a similar squirrel in Billerica, 12 miles from Andover |
| Andover MA | Mary Ruth Koogler (14 August 2008) | Clark Street. |
| Cambridge MA | Micahel Mersic (13 October 2007) | |
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Boston MA (Jamaica Pond) |
Michael Wofsey (29 September 2007) | Albino (red eyes) |
| Boston MA | Margot Sprague (12 October 2007) | Apparently albino (red eyes) |
| Boston (Charles River Park) | Walter Blake (9 September 2007) | |
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| Stratford CT | John Kazub | 2-3 with Dark eyes. |
| Rutland VT | Stephen Wolf (14 September 2007) | |
| Dearborn MI | Neva Langwell | |
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| Beaver Creek OH | Lisa Norwell (14 June 2007) | |
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Sharonville OH |
Mike Bailo |
near Cincinnati 10/09/04 |
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3 gray squirrels w/white tails |
| Elgin IL | Ben Burch | Dark eyes. Folklore is that once were numerous but hunted for pelts. |
| Sterling IL | Mark Potter (25 June 2007) | With brown feet. |
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Kansas City MO |
| DeForest WI | Heather Martindale |
Saw two together. 20 miles W of Madison |
| Somerset WI | Craig McConaughey (20 August 2007) | Dark eyes. Click here for pics. |
| Barnesville MN | Kelli Glynn | ~25 miles from Fargo ND |
| Bloomington MN | Fran Larson | |
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Dark eyes, gray head markings |
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Pink tinge to fur. Southeast Arkansas. |
| West Fork AR | J. Delap Jaynes (15 February 2005) | |
| Gadsden AL | K. Chavers (23 June 2004) | Dark eyes |
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| Daytona Beach FL | Jim Haug (10 April 2008) | |
| Jacksonville FL | Michael Alexander (23 March 2008) | |
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Dark eyes but no markings |
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| Bryron GA | Joel Daughtry | Dark eyes. Byron is just S of Macon. |
| Gainesville GA | Joy Clayton |
Dark eyes. Between Gainesville and Dawsonville N.E. of Atlanta |
| Gainesville GA | Courtney Orme (14 August 2008) | |
| Savannah GA | Park off Victory Drive | |
| Toronto Ontario | Chris Davie (14 November 2003) | North of Toronto. Pure white. |
| Sanderstead Surrey England | Dave Halliday (13 November 2003) | Didn't confirm that it was an introduced gray squirrel. Could be a native red squirrel |
3 This is not meant to be an exhaustive list. This simply represents
sightings that have come my way for one reason or another. I expect
that eventually they will demonstrate that random mutations generating
albino individuals occur regularly throughout the range of the Eastern
Gray Squirrel but that they rarely establish a colony unless afforded special
protection. It is also expected that while the appearance of albinos
is a regular event, the white color morphs (with localized pigmentation)
are relatively rare. Robert R. Glesener
Isolated Albino Fox Squirrels3
* If Location is hypertexted click on it for photo.
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3 This is not meant to be an exhaustive list. This simply represents sightings that have come my way for one reason or another. I expect that eventually they will demonstrate that random mutations generating albino individuals occur regularly throughout the range of the Fox Squirrel but that they rarely establish a colony unless afforded special protection. It is also expected that while the appearance of albinos is a regular event, the white color morphs (with localized pigmentation) are relatively rare. Robert R. Glesener
Isolated White Red Squirrels3
* If Location is hypertexted click on it for photo.
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One has reddish markings on tail.. |
| Vineland Ontario | Dick Ballinger | Looks more like a red than gray squirrel but not sure. Vineland is on the Niagara peninsula about 25 kilometers west of the Falls. |
3 This is not meant to be an exhaustive list. This simply represents
sightings that have come my way for one reason or another. I expect
that eventually they will demonstrate that random mutations generating
albino individuals occur regularly throughout the range of the Red Squirrel
but that they rarely establish a colony unless afforded special protection.
It is also expected that while the appearance of albinos is a regular event,
the white color morphs (with localized pigmentation) are relatively rare.
Robert R. Glesener