JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – White squirrel, white squirrel, swoosh your bushy tail!
An albino squirrel was spotted outside Fishweir Elementary in Jacksonville on Wednesday.
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Elizabeth Whittle Dent, a second grade teacher at Fishweir, said her class watched as the squirrel cracked acorns on a branch outside their classroom.
Dent said other parents and teachers have seen the squirrel around before. Her class is nuts for the squirrel, and she has used this as a teaching moment for her students.
Dent has assigned her students a writing assignment on albino squirrels after they watched it for a few days.
After researching albino squirrels on Healthy Pets, this is what we found out:
- There are two kinds of white squirrels, those caused by albinism and those caused by leucism
- Albinism is a congenital condition caused by an absence of melanin; a white albino squirrel can be spotted because of its red eyes.
- Having a white coat is like a beacon calling out to predators (unless you happen to live in a snow-covered locale), which means it’s not something that’s found very often.
Dent said the squirrel has red eyes and the kids love it!