Albino or white morph eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) from Falls Church, Virginia

First, I took this photo in 2008 in Falls Church, Virginia, so please don't ask me for the exact location as this squirrel is long gone.  In fact, it was gone pretty soon after I took these photos, as I returned a number of times and never saw it again.

Why?  Well, ya gotta admit that a white squirrel is pretty easy for a predator to see, and I'm just guessing here, but I suspect it became food for a local hawk fairly quickly.

So, why is it white?  The first and obvious answer is that it was an albino, which means that it lacked pigment in its skin and fur.  But I am fairly sure that it is not an albino, as it does have some pigment, especially in the tail, and does not seem to have red/pink eyes (that is the dead ringer for an albino squirrel).  Take a look.

An eastern gray squirrel (Scirius carolinesis) that is, for the most part, white

The second possibility is that it is a white morph, which is a genetic bit that can arise in a squirrel and create a mostly while squirrel.  This is not so dissimilar to the "black squirrels" in the eastern US which are just black morphs of the gray squirrel.

So I am calling this a white morph and not an albino, and here is another look at it.

White morph of the eastern gray squirrel from Falls Church, Virgiinia

Nature and genetics produce some pretty cool stuff.  But compare my recent blog photo of a gray squirrel hiding on a branch to this one and you can imagine how natural selection works against the white ones.