This article first appeared August 21, 2009.
An Irvington friend of mine, Judy Neidenthal told me about her neighbor Nancy Ostrander, who has been feeding a squirrel for a couple of months that has a big white fluffy tail. Nancy said she’s named the squirrel “Moby” and that he shows up for breakfast and supper about every day. Like so many Irvingtonians, she’s fed squirrels and birds for years, but this is the first time she’s ever seen this unusual squirrel. A week or so after hearing this story, I was on my way home for lunch and spotted a white-tailed squirrel crossing south Downey near Our Lady of Lourdes parking lot. I thought the squirrel was dragging something, when I realized it was his white tail. Judy and Nancy live in the 300 block of north Audubon — could this be the same squirrel?
I’ve Googled this squirrel and have found other reported sightings in Indianapolis, Greenwood, Fort Wayne and parts of northern Ohio. The only white tailed mentioned in Wikepedia is the white-tailed antelope squirrel from the Grand Canyon and it looks like a prairie dog or skinny chipmunk, nothing like these squirrels. Is this a cross between a couple of species? There are hundreds of different species of squirrels — I had no idea there were so many. If anyone knows anything about these cute little guys, please email me at paula.eastsidevoice@yahoo.com and educate us. I am curious as to their origin. Thanks Nancy for sending us the photo and taking care of Moby. (End of original article.)
It doesn’t seem like it could be over 15 years since we published this article — time flies. A couple weeks ago on my way home at lunch time as I turned off Downey to head west on Julian, a white-tailed squirrel ran across the street in front of my car. This brought back memories of this article and it was only around the corner from when I saw one 15 years ago! I asked CJ Woods if he had ever seen one since he lives near Ellenberger Park. He said yes, many times and I have photos.
Per several sites, “Most white squirrels are actually leucistic. Leucism is a recessive genetic trait found in all mammals. Leucistic animals lack pigment over all or part of their bodies; squirrels exhibiting this trait come in varying levels of white. Most times when people see a white squirrel, it’s a leucistic one. White-tailed squirrels are uncommon but locally they can become common. They are not albino squirrels. The color variation can come from a recessive trait that will occasionally appear in the genetic line. If the mother has a white tail, that characteristic is carried to offspring. Small populations of white squirrels live in a number of widely separated locations across the country, from California and Texas to Illinois, North Carolina and Florida. For some reason, white squirrels seem more abundant in Illinois than any other state. For context, albinism is believed to occur in roughly 1 in 100,000 squirrels, while leucism and melanism are more common, appearing in about 1 in 10,000.”
So Irvington seems to be one of those locations that has it’s little white-tailed squirrel population. The friend Judy who sent me this original photo has since passed away and her daughter (a really good friend) has retired to Florida.
So keep your eye out for white-tailed squirrels as you wander through the eastside. Would you believe that two weeks ago Sunday, while at the Benton House Book Sale, I spotted a white-tailed squirrel out in front of the Benton House on south Downey under the pine tree (photo above)!
