"In the constant pursuit of albino squirrel rights."
January 21, 2012 2:19 PM Subscribe
In honor of Squirrel Appreciation Day 2012, I present the Albino Squirrel Preservation Society. Start a chapter in your area! (Previously on MeFi)
The squirrels on the University of Texas campus (where the ASPS was founded) do in fact bring you luck if you see them before an exam, but they aren't albino. They don't have red eyes... just white fur. Their paws are brownish, probably stained from french fry grease.
I've seen the white squirrel myself, all my life. In the 90s, in the aughts, and this decade as well. There may be a whole family of them, or they may be one that is immortal. I'm not a squirrel expert, so I don't know.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 2:40 PM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
I've seen the white squirrel myself, all my life. In the 90s, in the aughts, and this decade as well. There may be a whole family of them, or they may be one that is immortal. I'm not a squirrel expert, so I don't know.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 2:40 PM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
No discussion of squirrels is complete without a recipe.
posted by MrMoonPie at 2:49 PM on January 21, 2012
posted by MrMoonPie at 2:49 PM on January 21, 2012
I guess this is as good a place as any to bring up the issue of Squirrel Rights.
posted by madamjujujive at 3:11 PM on January 21, 2012
posted by madamjujujive at 3:11 PM on January 21, 2012
I have never seen a white squirrel but certainly support their rights. I have seen black squirrels at the Bronx Zoo, and hope they have their own organization as well. My yard contains only very fat grey sqirrels who love my bird feeder.
posted by mermayd at 3:25 PM on January 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by mermayd at 3:25 PM on January 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
Seems people don't hunt squirrels as often as they used to due to the whole idea of trophy hunting, so this fellow came up with a solution. Why not rank squirrels by the size of their scrotums? This guy's a Kentucky Jonathan Swift.
posted by Seamus at 3:26 PM on January 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Seamus at 3:26 PM on January 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
There was a white squirrel that lived near my house for a while. I used to see him every few months when I was walking the dogs. Every time it was like sighting a unicorn or something. Except, you know, it was a squirrel.
posted by Cocodrillo at 4:56 PM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Cocodrillo at 4:56 PM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Tangentially, NYC has a population of black squirrels. They're pretty fucking cool! Never seen them anywhere else. Used to spot them pretty frequently in Tompkins Square Park.
posted by Afroblanco at 4:58 PM on January 21, 2012
posted by Afroblanco at 4:58 PM on January 21, 2012
The squirrels on the University of Texas campus will kick your ass for a muffin, too. They are almost entirely unafraid of people. If I was doing something interesting enough (eating) they were bold enough to climb on me.
Before I lived in Texas, I don't think I had seen a highly concentrated population of white squirrels before. I had, however, seen it with black ones - the town I went to high school in was almost exclusively populated by black squirrels
White squirrel sighting map
Black squirrel sighting map.
posted by louche mustachio at 5:05 PM on January 21, 2012
Before I lived in Texas, I don't think I had seen a highly concentrated population of white squirrels before. I had, however, seen it with black ones - the town I went to high school in was almost exclusively populated by black squirrels
White squirrel sighting map
Black squirrel sighting map.
posted by louche mustachio at 5:05 PM on January 21, 2012
Another variation is the North American Pizza Squirrel, a beast I have seen with my own eyes.
posted by louche mustachio at 5:14 PM on January 21, 2012
posted by louche mustachio at 5:14 PM on January 21, 2012
Ah, HuffPo quality journalism. That (slide 7 if the direct link isn't working) is a chipmunk, motherlovers.
posted by maryr at 6:11 PM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by maryr at 6:11 PM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
My wife and I have rescued and owned 3 squirrels in as many years. Here is our most recent baby... and yes, they can be quite fun to play with!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvB5NYebHWs&list=UULAnZle_ajxg-WfyvLhGPqQ&index=1&feature=plcp
posted by newfers at 7:11 PM on January 21, 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvB5NYebHWs&list=UULAnZle_ajxg-WfyvLhGPqQ&index=1&feature=plcp
posted by newfers at 7:11 PM on January 21, 2012
Not sure why that link isn't clickable..maybe this will work
posted by newfers at 7:12 PM on January 21, 2012
posted by newfers at 7:12 PM on January 21, 2012
Yeah, louche mustachio, the one that pissed on my backpack was on the UT West Mall and he was angry because I refused to share my cinnamon roll. 'Twas a punitive pissing. And yeah, they aren't really albino. But they probably are horribly inbred!
I think the ubiquity of squirrels is what has led to the large number of squirrel stories I have.
-One morning I was trying to wake up while making my coffee and out the window I see something that just confused me. Sitting on a branch of my ashe juniper (cedar to Austinites) were squirrels, both looking at me. One was eating one of my few ripe tomatoes and the other one was having sex with the first. And both of them were watching me.
-Another day, another state. I was hiking down a trail in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness and an Abert's squirrel fell off a branch about 40 feet off the ground and landed about 5 feet in front of me. He wasn't hurt, but he sure as hell was confused. He sat there for way to long trying not to look at me. Then when he ran up the tree, it took a couple tries because he kept turning (accidentally) and running back down the tree. He had to stop to make course corrections at least twice before he was out of reach.
-Yet another day, back in Austin, I watched a hawk with a squirrel in its talons struggling to gain altitude. The squirrel was writhing and finally managed to break free from the grasp of the hawk about 20 feet off the ground, only to land in the middle of morning rush hour traffic on the street the hawk had been following because it was the only long flight-way free of trees.
-My great grandmothers boyfriend (live-in lover? who knows what they called it 30+ years ago. He was just an "Uncle") had a squirrel for a friend. He had nursed it back to health as a pup and released it into the park. It used to come back through the window to share nuts and take naps on the sofa with him.
Squirrels make good story/anecdote fodder.
posted by Seamus at 7:21 PM on January 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
I think the ubiquity of squirrels is what has led to the large number of squirrel stories I have.
-One morning I was trying to wake up while making my coffee and out the window I see something that just confused me. Sitting on a branch of my ashe juniper (cedar to Austinites) were squirrels, both looking at me. One was eating one of my few ripe tomatoes and the other one was having sex with the first. And both of them were watching me.
-Another day, another state. I was hiking down a trail in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness and an Abert's squirrel fell off a branch about 40 feet off the ground and landed about 5 feet in front of me. He wasn't hurt, but he sure as hell was confused. He sat there for way to long trying not to look at me. Then when he ran up the tree, it took a couple tries because he kept turning (accidentally) and running back down the tree. He had to stop to make course corrections at least twice before he was out of reach.
-Yet another day, back in Austin, I watched a hawk with a squirrel in its talons struggling to gain altitude. The squirrel was writhing and finally managed to break free from the grasp of the hawk about 20 feet off the ground, only to land in the middle of morning rush hour traffic on the street the hawk had been following because it was the only long flight-way free of trees.
-My great grandmothers boyfriend (live-in lover? who knows what they called it 30+ years ago. He was just an "Uncle") had a squirrel for a friend. He had nursed it back to health as a pup and released it into the park. It used to come back through the window to share nuts and take naps on the sofa with him.
Squirrels make good story/anecdote fodder.
posted by Seamus at 7:21 PM on January 21, 2012 [2 favorites]
Just the other day I ran across pictures of albino peacocks. I didn't know it was possible for one of the most colorful creatures on the planet to be albino.
posted by marsha56 at 1:40 AM on January 22, 2012
posted by marsha56 at 1:40 AM on January 22, 2012
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But of real albino squirrels, I am still wary, ever since that one pissed on my backpack.
As a chile, I never would have predicted that my adult self would have such a past with albino squirrels. It's a strange world.
The "about our club" page has a photo taken a few hundred yards from where the peeing occurred. Hello, Flashbacks!
posted by Seamus at 2:29 PM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]