White Squirrels: Truth or Tale?

May/June 2010 • Category: Features • Print This Page Print This Page

It may sound like the start of a science fiction novel, but white squirrels are no myth. Though colonies of populations of white squirrels are somewhat rare, North Carolina is host to two such locations—the most notable being Brevard. Only about a dozen other cities in the United States can claim being home to white squirrel colonies. “Most people that come here think it’s a joke and that we don’t really have white squirrels,” says Madrid Zimmerman, executive director of Heart of Brevard. “We have to convince them that we didn’t just make it up.”

So how did the white squirrels of Brevard come to be? Well, that story is a little more fantastical. The story says they arrived by way of a carnival accident. According to Barbara Mull Lang, two white squirrels were caught by a Mr. Black of Madison, Fla. in 1949 when a carnival truck carrying these unique creatures overturned near his home. Black then passed the squirrels along to H.H. Mull, Lang’s uncle, who later gave the squirrels to her. She attempted to breed them, but wasn’t successful. After she left home in 1951, one of the squirrels escaped, and so the other was let go to join its mate. Once in the wild, the squirrels began breeding, and soon there was a rapidly growing population in Transylvania County.

Brevard’s white squirrels all have similar markings—a white body with a pigmented head patch, shoulder saddle and dorsal stripe, and dark eyes. Though a breed of white squirrel does exist, the white squirrels in Brevard are thought to be a color variation of the Eastern Gray Squirrel. “They are simply another coat color variant in a species that already has quite a bit of variation,” says Bob Glesener, research director of the White Squirrel Research Institute. “As evidence that Brevard’s white squirrels are simply a color variant of the Eastern Gray Squirrel, I like to point out that when a white squirrel is foraging on the ground and is threatened by a predator or human, it darts to the nearest tree trunk and does a ‘spread eagle.’ This is appropriate for a squirrel with a dark coat color, but a white squirrel sticks out like a ‘sore squirrel’ against the dark tree bark.”

And these white squirrels shouldn’t be confused with albino squirrels. An albino squirrel will have no pigmentation at all, and will have pink or blue eyes. Because these squirrels are such an oddity, they attract a considerable tourist base to the area. People from all over the country come to Brevard to see the natural beauty of the area and with hopes of spotting one of the elusive critters. In fact, Brevard takes such pride in its white squirrel population that a protective ordinance was approved in 1986, which makes it “unlawful for any person to hunt, kill, trap or otherwise take any protected squirrels within the city.” “The ordinance wasn’t put in place because there was a problem; it was more to recognize that they are a special species we have living here,” Zimmerman says. Each year, Brevard hosts the Annual White Squirrel Festival during Memorial Day weekend. The festival is complete with free live music, the Squirrel Box Derby, the White Squirrel 5K and 10K race, guided tours, exhibits and squirrel feeder and photo contests.

To ensure the population continues to grow, the White Squirrel Research Institute conducts an annual white squirrel count. Originally, the project started as a Brevard College student project, but was continued by mentor Glesener, the research institute’s director, and the help of volunteers. Each year, the original city limits are divided into 35 sections approximately 20–30 acres large and all squirrels are counted. “We conduct the count to see how well they are thriving in this populated area, and to see how well the white squirrels are doing compared to their siblings,” Zimmerman says Glesener adds that the population appears to be maintaining its numbers or possibly growing by a small percentage. Zimmerman says there are three reasons that tree squirrels thrive in the Brevard area—the density of trees, which they need for food and mating, the city-wide ordinance protecting the squirrels and the fact that town residents will actually put out feeders to encourage the squirrels. “They aren’t the sort of cute, cuddly thing that people want to make pets out of,” Zimmerman says. “But the residents here have a recognized respect for them.” “I have had people tell me they will brake for white squirrels, but not gray ones. Or that they will let white squirrels feed at their bird feeders, but shoo gray ones away,” Glesener says. “There is much civic pride over our squirrels.”

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16 Responses »

  1. Lorna Hattler on May 19th, 2010 at 12:44 pm :

    Great article! We have a very few white squirrels here Charleston, SC. There is one (at least) that lives on Johns Island, SC at the Angel Oak. He is very shy and you have to be at the right place at the right time to see him. We have gotten enough pictures of him to know that he is not albino but truly white.
    Unfortunately, the land he lives on was bought by a developer that intends to put 600 apartments and retail space on his 42 acres. I don’t think the little squirrel will stay.
    Please visit our web site http://www.savetheangeloak.org and help us. Any donations are greatly appreciated!

  2. johnny hayles on May 27th, 2010 at 5:19 pm :

    i live in oxford, mississippi….60 miles south of memphis, tn….i have a white squirrel hanging around the tree line by my garden/pasture….been hanging around since last fall. dark eyes, solid white, and pretty big….for a squirrel.

  3. Debbie Medlin on December 27th, 2010 at 9:10 pm :

    About three months ago I spotted a white squirrel in our front yard in Greenville, NC. Over the last three weeks I have seen it a little more often in the back around our bird feeders. We are in the country with lots of trees. My son was able to get a few pictures of “Snow White” over Christmas. He said he/she was not an albino, just a white squirrel with dark eyes. She is a little more skittish than my regular grey squirrels. I’m always watching for her now.

  4. Birgit Wassmuth on January 3rd, 2011 at 5:43 pm :

    We just returned from a vacation in Hendersonville, NC. A few days ago, when I was walking our Doberman Scarlett, she quietly alerted me to something she noticed halfway up on a tree about 100 feet away. She didn’t bark, and she didn’t want to charge forward. She just sat down quietly and gazed in one direction with complete focus and attention. She ignored several of my commands to move on. Then I looked for what she had been staring at: A white squirrel. And before long, there were two more, and then a gray one. They seemed to be chasing each other and having fun. I couldn’t believe my eyes so I talked to Scarlett and thanked her for bringing this to my attention. Too bad I didn’t have my camera with me, but the memory of the three happy white squirrels will forever live on in my mind.

  5. Susetta Treml on January 4th, 2011 at 6:22 pm :

    There is a squirrel in our neighborhood in Tulsa Ok that is white on the top of his body including his head, but his underside and tail are red. He appears to have equal amounts of both color. He has been here for at least 3 years and I finally got a picture of him today right in my own front yard. He appears to have light colored blue or green eyes.

  6. janet herb on March 7th, 2011 at 12:41 pm :

    we have two and live in shreveport la. i feed the birds and squirrel and they are regular visitors. they have dark eyes and have gotten quite use to us, they are quite large, but then again so are all the squirrels in my yard, we go through 50 lbs of sunflower seeds a month. i have several videos of them.

  7. Robin on April 4th, 2011 at 7:55 am :

    We have two white squirrels in our neighborhood in Wakefield Massachusetts. We have had at least 2 white squirrels since 2009. The local paper published our pics of them in 2009 and 2010. We will send this years pics of them as they are back!! We love watching them and they are so beautiful!

  8. Dave on May 25th, 2011 at 5:13 am :

    For the first time ever, we had a white squirrel with dark eyes on our deck railing. It was accompanied by a grey squirrel. Fortunately, I was able to get several close-up pictures of it. What a beautiful creature! Now, we can only hope the eagles don’t get it.

  9. The white squirrels of Brevard | Travels with Ace on May 26th, 2011 at 5:28 am :

    [...] for the White Squirrels of Brevard, an article in NC Farm Bureau Magazine says they are not true white squirrels, but a color variation of the Eastern Gray Squirrel. Most [...]

  10. Bubi on June 22nd, 2011 at 2:21 am :

    Going to put this aritcle to good use now.

  11. Gerald Reiser on June 27th, 2011 at 1:02 pm :

    I have seen White Squirrels many times in the Brevard area but today we were fortunate to have one at our bird feeder. We live in Pottery Terrace, Flat Rock, NC which is about 1 mile from the Dana post office. I managed to get several pictures and this fellow has all the classic markings of the Brevard White Squirrel. Prior to this sighting, we have noticed several Grey Squirrels with a pure white chest at our bird feeder. This is my first sighting of a White in the 9 years I have lived here.

  12. Marie Costanza on October 1st, 2011 at 8:12 pm :

    I saw a whitesquerril in Stratford CT and could not believe my eyes is this possible in this area

  13. Nancy DeMuro on October 4th, 2011 at 7:49 pm :

    I have discovered white squirrels in Harrisburg, NC, and am so mesmerized by their beauty that I visit and photograph them at least 3 times a week. They seem a bit more shy than their gray cousins, but I’m hoping with time and familiarty (plus a few select treats) they will become comfortable with my presence so that I can observe them at closer range. I’ve also heard that there is another community of white squirrels in Charlotte, NC, and plan on visiting that site soon. What a delight!

  14. BONNIE LILLY on October 10th, 2011 at 2:30 pm :

    iI AM SO EXCITED TO SEE A WHITE SQUIRREL. FOR THE PAST WEEK A WHITTE SQUIRREL HAS BEEN FROLICKING AROUND OUR WOODED BACK YARD AND DRINKING FROM OUR BIRD BATH IN THE BACK YARD. HE JUMPS IN THE ENGLISH IVY FOLLOWED BY TWO OR THREE BROWN SQUIRELS. SHOULD I TRY AND TRAP HIM FOR RESERCE, WHAT IF IT’S A FEMALE AND SHE HAS A NEST NEARBY. I IS AN ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS ANIMAL. I LIVE IN CLAY, ALA. 35048. IFROM MY RESERCE THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A WHITE SQUIRREL SIGHTING. MY HUSBAND HAS LIVED ON OUR PROERTY FOR 70 YEARS AND SAYS HE’S NEVER SEEN ONE. I’M SO ANXIOUS TO HEAR FROM SOMEONE. THANNK YOU FOR YOUR TIME. BONNIE LILLY

  15. Barbara Derosier on October 16th, 2011 at 6:44 pm :

    October 16, 2011 Whitman, Massachusetts (20 miles south of Boston)
    He’s back! We first saw our white squirrel last December. To our delight he appeared on our patio again today looking very healthy.

  16. Elise Gotschall on December 9th, 2011 at 5:12 pm :

    I was walking with my son on the bike trails in Crowfield Plantation in Goose Creek, SC and we saw two of them tonight. It was so neat as i have never seen one before but they looked exactly like this and i even got the chance to snap a few pictures on my phone. Great article.

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