My wife is obsessed with this albino squirrel
March 28, 2006 11:43 AM Subscribe
I finally saw it and captured it on film. The picture got me wondering whether or not anyone else was equally smitten by these freaks of nature. Apparently the good people at The Albino Squirrel Preservation Society are. So are these seemingly nice folks.
Leave it to the BBC to be the definitive authority on the topic. Of course there are those who will turn this into a tourist attraction or a way to make a quick buck. There are frauds. There are criminal aspects. There is always a detractor or two, and as always too much hype.
I live just a few miles from Marionville, which apparently is crawling with them.
On a related note, Is it a good or bad omen that I saw a squirrel scamper up a tree in my backyard with a paintbrush in its mouth this morning?
posted by sourwookie at 11:54 AM on March 28, 2006
On a related note, Is it a good or bad omen that I saw a squirrel scamper up a tree in my backyard with a paintbrush in its mouth this morning?
posted by sourwookie at 11:54 AM on March 28, 2006
Sorry about the busted link. Try here for the Albino Squirrel Preservation Society.
posted by scblackman at 11:54 AM on March 28, 2006
posted by scblackman at 11:54 AM on March 28, 2006
Awww, wook at the ickle fuffy cottontails.
But why does a dark-eyed white squirrel constitute a "fraud" that is "hardly worthy of being posted"?
posted by Gator at 11:56 AM on March 28, 2006
But why does a dark-eyed white squirrel constitute a "fraud" that is "hardly worthy of being posted"?
posted by Gator at 11:56 AM on March 28, 2006
Sam, you know you are not supposed to link to your own work, right?
posted by LarryC at 11:57 AM on March 28, 2006
posted by LarryC at 11:57 AM on March 28, 2006
I once had a load of maggots, for fishing, and I left them in the jar and when they all finally hatched there was one albino fly in there. Seemed kinda dumb and he didn't want to fly out of the jar, although he did in the end. Nobody believed me though so probably should have kept him.
posted by zeoslap at 11:58 AM on March 28, 2006
posted by zeoslap at 11:58 AM on March 28, 2006
No, Larry. Didn't know that. Sorry about the newbie mistake. Won't happen again.
posted by scblackman at 12:03 PM on March 28, 2006
posted by scblackman at 12:03 PM on March 28, 2006
We've got a war on right now between some white squirrels and black squirrels in our yard. Particularly vicious.
please don't link to your own work
posted by Baby_Balrog at 12:16 PM on March 28, 2006
please don't link to your own work
posted by Baby_Balrog at 12:16 PM on March 28, 2006
Well 1 link to a very relevant flickr photo owned by the poster, among a whole bunch of linkies on a neato weird subject, is about as far away from selflink whoring as can be imagined. Don't mind any guff you may be getting scblackman - it's a good post. But I wouldn't suggest repeating the 'self' link part in the future. It will hurt. A lot.
posted by peacay at 12:20 PM on March 28, 2006
posted by peacay at 12:20 PM on March 28, 2006
It's in the guidelines, scblackman. You can link to your own stuff as a comment in a thread, if it's relevant, just not on the main page.
posted by Gator at 12:21 PM on March 28, 2006
posted by Gator at 12:21 PM on March 28, 2006
Lesson learned. Thx all.
posted by scblackman at 12:25 PM on March 28, 2006
posted by scblackman at 12:25 PM on March 28, 2006
I think it's quite excusable given the rest of the content of the link, but know that I'm wagging my finger at you. Thanks for posting this stuff.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 12:33 PM on March 28, 2006
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 12:33 PM on March 28, 2006
This is cool. But I have to complain: Don't take documentary photographs in black and white. Color, baby. Black and white is way more subjective.
I like squirrels. They're cute little rabies carriers. And they like to eat through the lids to my trash can. They must have razor sharp teeth.
Now if only I had an albino squirrel for a neighbor...
posted by teece at 12:42 PM on March 28, 2006
I like squirrels. They're cute little rabies carriers. And they like to eat through the lids to my trash can. They must have razor sharp teeth.
Now if only I had an albino squirrel for a neighbor...
posted by teece at 12:42 PM on March 28, 2006
"*pumps fist in air*
posted by squirrel"
Is that some sort of squirrel power salute?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:07 PM on March 28, 2006
posted by squirrel"
Is that some sort of squirrel power salute?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:07 PM on March 28, 2006
There are plenty of albino squirrels around the miami valley in ohio; it's not unusual to see several a year. Often we'd see them in my old backyard; it's always easy to assume they are the same squirrel, but now I wonder if they are just different ones.
posted by adzm at 1:07 PM on March 28, 2006
posted by adzm at 1:07 PM on March 28, 2006
My fiancee's parents had a albino squirrel in their backyard. Then a daschund ate it.
posted by PenDevil at 1:13 PM on March 28, 2006
posted by PenDevil at 1:13 PM on March 28, 2006
You . . . should . . . have . . . bought . . . a . . . squirrel
..
..
*crunch*
posted by rubin at 1:16 PM on March 28, 2006
..
..
*crunch*
posted by rubin at 1:16 PM on March 28, 2006
When I first moved into my apartment, there was a really disciplined black squirrel that would stand on its hind legs and walk over to you if you made 'ts-ts' noises at it. We figured it was used to all the old Poles and Ukies feeding it all the time.
Then one day, a friend mentioned a similarly well-behaved albino squirrel in his neighborhood, and we got very excited at the prospect of mating them until we realized that all we would get was a... grey squirrel.
posted by elr at 1:45 PM on March 28, 2006
Then one day, a friend mentioned a similarly well-behaved albino squirrel in his neighborhood, and we got very excited at the prospect of mating them until we realized that all we would get was a... grey squirrel.
posted by elr at 1:45 PM on March 28, 2006
The University I went to had several of these living on campus. I guess the squirrel community was inbred enough to make a whole passel of albino squirrel-lings.
posted by joegester at 2:04 PM on March 28, 2006
posted by joegester at 2:04 PM on March 28, 2006
We *might* have one living in our yard. Damn thing's too fast for me to get a picture. Since ours is not completely white, I assumed that it was a blonde squirrel rather than an albino. However, the pix on the Preservation Society site from the University of Texas look strikingly like our squirrel.
I'll have to get a good look at the eyes. Thanks for the post! Maybe this will end our homestead controversy.
posted by blakewest at 2:44 PM on March 28, 2006
I'll have to get a good look at the eyes. Thanks for the post! Maybe this will end our homestead controversy.
posted by blakewest at 2:44 PM on March 28, 2006
*wags finger*
with that out of the way, I had NO IDEA that there were albino squirrels. weird.
posted by shmegegge at 2:51 PM on March 28, 2006
with that out of the way, I had NO IDEA that there were albino squirrels. weird.
posted by shmegegge at 2:51 PM on March 28, 2006
Whatever, an excusable mistake on a great post.
The only weird thing about your pic being in black and white was that at first I thought you'd faked it by using infra-red film. That's pretty much what it would look like.
After looking at the other links, and the other pics on that roll, I now believe you. Score one for the ghost squirrels.
posted by lumpenprole at 3:25 PM on March 28, 2006
The only weird thing about your pic being in black and white was that at first I thought you'd faked it by using infra-red film. That's pretty much what it would look like.
After looking at the other links, and the other pics on that roll, I now believe you. Score one for the ghost squirrels.
posted by lumpenprole at 3:25 PM on March 28, 2006
MetaFilter school: I learned the word epizootic in the article that included the decline of the red squirrel. Adds to my appreciation of the word epidemic.
There were two very pale squirrels in my yard a couple of years ago, one blond-ish one nearly white. I never saw them close up enough to check for pink eyes. Eventually, they disappeared and I assumed roadkill.
Sic transit sciurus - no offense to the eponymous Mefite.
posted by Cranberry at 4:08 PM on March 28, 2006
There were two very pale squirrels in my yard a couple of years ago, one blond-ish one nearly white. I never saw them close up enough to check for pink eyes. Eventually, they disappeared and I assumed roadkill.
Sic transit sciurus - no offense to the eponymous Mefite.
posted by Cranberry at 4:08 PM on March 28, 2006
My father was an avid hunter and also an animal control officer in the sticks of MA. He once took me out to see and photograph an albino deer. It looked almost exactly like this. For serious.
At the time I thought it was magic or something. A bit sad, because apparently the other deer didn't take kindly to it and it was usually roughed up. A few weeks after, he/we never saw it again.
posted by rollbiz at 4:10 PM on March 28, 2006
At the time I thought it was magic or something. A bit sad, because apparently the other deer didn't take kindly to it and it was usually roughed up. A few weeks after, he/we never saw it again.
posted by rollbiz at 4:10 PM on March 28, 2006
Brevard, NC, has a large native population of white (not albino) squirrels.
posted by moonbird at 5:44 PM on March 28, 2006
posted by moonbird at 5:44 PM on March 28, 2006
Residents insist that the squirrels "have been here the longest" and claim they were left by a "Gypsy caravan" in 1869. Is Kenton, we asked, where the other towns got their white squirrels? "Well, they had to come from somewhere."
This is the kind of thinking that lets Intelligent Design make inroads. It's actually interesting (and sad) that if you look at the places that have white (or black or red, or whatever) squirrels that they all seem to have a local legend about how they were introduced.
Previously on mefi.
posted by dhartung at 7:32 PM on March 28, 2006
This is the kind of thinking that lets Intelligent Design make inroads. It's actually interesting (and sad) that if you look at the places that have white (or black or red, or whatever) squirrels that they all seem to have a local legend about how they were introduced.
Previously on mefi.
posted by dhartung at 7:32 PM on March 28, 2006
Sic transit sciurus - no offense to the eponymous Mefite.
If Crainberry thinks he'd leavin' this here room, he can forget about bringin' his teeth.
posted by squirrel at 10:51 PM on March 28, 2006
If Crainberry thinks he'd leavin' this here room, he can forget about bringin' his teeth.
posted by squirrel at 10:51 PM on March 28, 2006
I can tell you from experience that albino squirrels taste exactly like normal squirrels.
posted by bradth27 at 5:14 AM on March 29, 2006
posted by bradth27 at 5:14 AM on March 29, 2006
I'd love to see a white squirrel (albino or not). We have lots of grey and black squirrels. They seem to get along.
posted by deborah at 8:47 AM on March 29, 2006
posted by deborah at 8:47 AM on March 29, 2006
My father was an avid hunter and also an animal control officer in the sticks of MA. He once took me out to see and photograph an albino deer. (...) A few weeks after, he/we never saw it again.
Remember that rather gamey tasting meat that you began eating a lot of soon after...?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 10:59 AM on March 29, 2006
Remember that rather gamey tasting meat that you began eating a lot of soon after...?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 10:59 AM on March 29, 2006
Well damn, I got left out. I used to work near Franklin Park in downtown DC and there was a family of albino squirrels there. While I was working in the area there was only one, but co-workers who had been there longer than me told of other albino squirrels from years past. Anyway, I took some pictures too.
posted by etoile at 10:41 AM on April 4, 2006
posted by etoile at 10:41 AM on April 4, 2006
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posted by cribcage at 11:51 AM on March 28, 2006