The Hunt for the Great White Squirrel

Gray squirrels are, well, gray.  But not completely gray.  Many have brown mixed in with the gray and most have a white belly.  In our corner of North Carolina, we have the eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis).  Its scientific name means squirrel of the Carolinas, but the eastern gray squirrel ranges from south Florida to southern Canada and west to where the forests give way to the prairies. 

Gray squirrel with normal coloration.

Recently a friend told me of a white squirrel in her suburban neighborhood.  Diane and I decided we would have to hunt for the great white squirrel.  Unlike Ahab who had to search three oceans to find his prize, we drove through a leafy suburb.  There were lots of squirrels, on the lawns and in the trees but they were all gray.  Then, rounding a corner, we saw it.  The white squirrel bounded across the road, into a yard and ran up a tree.  We quickly noticed the squirrel was not pure white but had a gray patch on its head and a gray stripe down its back.  As we looked more closely, we could see this squirrel’s eyes and nose were dark.  This squirrel was a white eastern gray squirrel but it was not an albino.  Albinos cannot make the pigment melanin so they have white fur, pink eyes and pink noses.  This squirrel was leucistic, able to make melanin in parts of its coat, eyes and nose but could not make melanin in the rest of the its body.   A number of genes are responsible for leucism and our white squirrel undoubtedly had a mutation in one of these genes. 

Leucistic gray squirrel with gray
stripe down the back.

Leucistic gray squirrel showing
 white fur, gray on top of
head  and dark eyes.

White squirrels are rare because the mutations happen infrequently and because the white squirrels that are born are easy for predators to see and catch.  We have been watching this white squirrel for a month and it has not been caught by a hawk or coyote.  If this squirrel reproduces, there is a chance some of its offspring will be leucistic too.  The white squirrel may be able to survive in this neighborhood with the help of people.  They could provide food in bird feeders and limit threats from predators.  

The mountain town of Brevard, NC has a famous population of white squirrels established in the 1950s.  Brevard passed an ordinance to protect the squirrels and has an annual White Squirrel Festival complete with fun run, bands, food trucks and a white squirrel photo contest.

White forms of animals have cultural and spiritual significance around the world.  The white buffalo is revered by the native people of the American plains.  According to the Kitasoo Nation, Raven made the Spirit Bear, a white variant of the American black bear found on the coastal islands of British Columbia, to remind the people of the age of ice that came before.  The Tsonga of South Africa consider the white lion as most sacred.  For Captain Ahab, Moby Dick was a manifestation of evil.  Beyond genetics and natural selection, I wonder about the meaning of this white squirrel.