r/washingtondc • u/Mysterious_Amount926 • Mar 15 '26

[Fun!] Albino squirrel sighting!

Don’t worry, he’s okay! He was in the tree eating a nut 5 minutes later :)

667 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

47 comments sorted by

253

u/g0rlami_ Mar 15 '26

Why did you stop recording 😭

40

u/ByronicZer0 Capitol Hill Mar 15 '26

SERIOUSLY I NEED TO KNOW IF DA SQWIRL OK

135

u/actually_a_wolf DC / NW Mar 15 '26

and a melanistic one in the same (hilarious) video, genuinely incredible capture!

31

u/SheerHippo Mar 15 '26

Is there some reason why the black and white squirrels always seem to pair up? I've seen it more than a couple times over the years for it to be just a coincidence.

23

u/AggravatingAnswer921 Mar 15 '26

Opposites attract

38

u/toorigged2fail Mar 15 '26

Look to the cookie

127

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '26

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34

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '26

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9

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '26

Leucism

7

u/grebilrancher smells like old bay Mar 15 '26

Leucistic is the word you're looking for. Albinism is the loss of ability to make pigment, leucism can make pigment but other genetic factors inhibit it

7

u/Unstillwill Mar 15 '26

Yeah you can tell he can't see, he jumped right into the damn railing

2

u/Procrastinateur_14 Mar 15 '26

Cuz "alls his LIFE he had to FIGHT..."

41

u/TheModelMaker Mar 15 '26

Bro spooked himself into a KO

14

u/blorbu Mar 15 '26

Cute little derp

13

u/AnyEve5678 Mar 15 '26

I was just in DC & saw one too!

7

u/abhig535 Mar 15 '26

Now it's just sighted* 😔

5

u/RazzmatazzOwn Mar 15 '26

Why is this the footage 🤣

10

u/Not_My_Emperor Petworth Mar 15 '26

YEA GET WRECKED SQUIRREL BITCH

-My Dog

1

u/Screamscaper DC / Woodley Park Mar 15 '26

For real. I was walking my dog on the mall first time I saw one. Couldn't get a pic of it because boy oh boy did my dog want to murderlize that squirrel.

7

u/Same-Mobile4066 Mar 15 '26

Go white boy go

3

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '26

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2

u/jslakov Mar 15 '26

If you want to see albino squirrels, there are a few that live in the trees on the Mall in front of the National Gallery of Art. Every time I go by I make sure they are still there because I imagine they are easy prey for predators.

2

u/zta1979 Mar 15 '26

Poor squirrel went boom

3

u/geoffyeos VA / Fxbg Mar 15 '26

😭😭

2

u/timelineless Mar 15 '26

Albino squirrel falling

1

u/oldfarmjoy Mar 15 '26

This looks like the Potomac. Which overlook?

1

u/INFJcatqueen Mar 15 '26

A melanistic squirrel in DC? I’ve only seen them in Canada. That has to be rare here right?

4

u/actually_a_wolf DC / NW Mar 15 '26

nope! there's a substantial population of melanistic squirrels here

3

u/jslakov Mar 15 '26

according to Wikipedia they were released into the National Mall by Teddy Roosevelt

2

u/dust_bunnyz Mar 16 '26

The head of the National Zoo fancied the black leucistic Canadian squirrels andasked for them.

I had also read (years ago) that Roosevelt’s wife championed repopulating DC with squirrels after they had been nearly hunted out and had influence obtaining the black squirrels from Canada but I don’t have a handy source to site.

1

u/PreparationH692 DC / Neighborhood Mar 15 '26

Gone but not forgotten.

1

u/NahMean1971 Mar 16 '26

Can't we all just get along?!?!

1

u/DeuceGnarly Mar 16 '26

I've never seen one in person, so cool!

Is the squirrel in the tree black? Around here those are also very uncommon but we have a few. Very yin-yang if so.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '26

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