An extremely rare squirrel with a white tail has been spotted in St. Albert.
Forest Lawn resident Don Ladner sent a photo to the Gazette this week of a North American red squirrel in his backyard. Unlike most squirrels of this species, this one had a completely white tail instead of a red one.
Ladner said this squirrel, as well as one with four white paws (“It’s like he’s wearing mittens.”) showed up in his backyard last summer and have been weekly visitors ever since.
“We’ve always had squirrels, but these white ones, we kind of thought they were pretty unique,” he said.
Ladner said this was the first white red-tailed squirrel that he’d ever seen, and he’s not sure how it got its colouration.
“One guy joked that (the parent) must have mated with a rabbit!”
A quick Internet search suggests that other communities occasionally get white-tailed or all-white non-albino squirrels, but those appeared to be eastern grey squirrels. Brevard, North Carolina, even has a festival dedicated to such squirrels. The white-tailed antelope squirrel is found in parts of the U.S., but its tail has a prominent brown stripe on it.
University of Alberta biologist Stan Boutin has studied red squirrels in Alberta for more than 25 years, and said he was amazed by Ladner’s squirrel. While he and his team have seen some completely black red squirrels and all-white albino ones, they have never encountered one with this colour pattern.
“It’s obviously some sort of genetic mutation,” he continued, but not albinism, as the squirrel lacked the pink eyes associated with that condition.
Boutin suspected that this squirrel and its white-footed companion were relatives, and said they and their parents could create more white-tailed offspring in the future. They might prove short-lived, though – the fact that red squirrels have had red tails for generations suggests that a white one is an evolutionary disadvantage.
Ladner said the white-tailed squirrels act just like the others that frequent his yard, scampering along fences and raiding bird feeders for sunflower seeds.
“Our grandkids think they’re cool.”
Incidentally, Jan. 21 is Squirrel Appreciation Day.
If you want some sunshine in your life, there’s a free conference next week on how to get into solar power.
The Solar Energy Society of Alberta is holding a mini-conference on how to generate your own power next Jan. 23. The free event includes a trade show, a lecture by David Dickie of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology’s alternative energy program, and a series of rapid-fire PechaKucha presentations on the latest developments in the solar industry.
Rob Harlan, the society’s executive director, said this was the first time that his group has held this sort of event.
“There’s a tremendous interest right now in solar energy and how people can get it on their own place,” he said. This conference was meant to get contractors and clients together to plan solar panel installations this spring.
Harlan said Alberta’s solar generation capacity has doubled in each of the last two years, with some 300 grid-connected systems now online in Edmonton. Last year saw the opening of the two-megawatt Green Acres solar farm near Bassano, and Epcor reportedly has a massive 15 MW project in the works.
“That’s twice the entire capacity of Alberta’s solar generation right now.”
The event runs from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. next Saturday at NAIT’s Shaw Theatre. Visit solaralberta.ca for details.
