by Matthew Cobb
The BBC reports that a bald grey squirrel has been captured in Dunstable in the UK. The RSPCA was called in after passers-by were worried it could freeze to death (we have just had the first frosts of the year). I assumed it was just mangey, but it is clearly bald all over, not patchy. Plus it looks pretty happy, though weird. You can see video of the beast either here or watch the version below, although the colour saturation on this stolen YouTube version has been turned up to 11 for some reason and they have cut the autumnal soundtrack of rustling leaves.
The BBC quotes Dr Helen McRobie, a lecturer in biomedical science at the Anglia Ruskin University
“she said she had never heard of a bald squirrel before but it would “need to be kept in the warm once the temperature drops”.
“This is very rare. I have been studying squirrels for years, but I have never come across one without any hair,” she said.
“If the skin was patchy I would say that it was more likely to have been caused by a disease like mange, but the squirrel is completely bald, suggesting it is probably a genetic defect.””
Ironically, given that the damn thing was only caught because people were worried it might freeze to death, Baldy – for that must be its name – may now be facing death. Grey squirrels, introduced from the USA, are an official pest in the UK, and it has been illegal since 1981 to release them into the wild once it has been caught. Baldy may end up meeting its maker, not in a cold Dunstable park, but in the grim clinical atmosphere of the vet’s…
JAC: Don’t let this squirrel die! Is there any reader who can help the poor creature?
The lack of a bushy tail makes this beast look a bit too rat-like for me.
Twycross zoo has a bald chimp. Shows its musculature off which is impressive. Supposedly has alopecia, so the internet claims.
Invasive species…coming here stealing our squirrels jobs. it’s incredibly hard to talk about invasive species control without sounding like Donald trump or a UKIP politician
I heard that some UKIPpers are actually job-stealing refugee asylum seeking cheese-eating surrender monkeys who have fled here from persecution in France.
You can tell if you’ve got one of these excrescences – they all carry a PEN in their pocket, to mark their continuing allegiance to Le PEN – underground leader of the French far right.
Sorry, I’m channelling a Sun editorial writer. I’ll feel better once I’ve blown my brains out. That normally cures cognitive dissonance.
I have no idea what makes this animal ~ hairless. It could be a mutation, but I think there are other possible reasons for it too.
I’m guessing lifestyle choice. Thumbing his nose at his parents and society.
Or is he a streaker? Dirty bugger.
Mange was my first thought.
IME, an animal with that degree of mange is generally also sickly and emaciated. This squirrel looks a bit too frisky, I’d think.
Calm down, people…The squirrel just got a shave so he can next get tattoos. The first one will say “Mom”.
It should be a tattoo on its belly with an arrow pointing down, and the words:
‘Dese Nuts!!!
Lol. +1
I was going to correct you to ‘Mum’ but since he’s descened from immigrants ‘Mom’ is probably appropriate.
Any reason why a squirrel shouldn’t develop an auto-immune condition like alopecia totalis in humans? Most would freeze and perhaps be attacked by other squirrels so we might not see it happen often, but I don’t think it impossible.
If they have captured it over there, I would think a zoo might want it. I would take any normal squirrel but have no place inside – too many cats.
I was thinking along the same lines. “May not be released” does not equal “barbiturate overdose”.
They’d be unlikely to believe the protestations of a private citizen saying “cuddly – I’ll look after it for ever and ever!” ; people have a bad habit of getting bored in a matter of weeks.
An established animal sanctuary, zoo or other organisation which has a demonstrated track record of keeping wild (-ish) animals for years OTOH could make such a commitment with credibility. And an accurate estimate of their costs for doing so.
How do they know it isn’t a native red squirrel, rather than the introduced gray, since all it’s fur is missing?
(I know there is a size difference between the species, but can they eyeball that difference?)
I sure feel like I could tell a bald US Red from a bald US Gray Squirrel. Bigger eye-size to head-size ratio, slimmer & shorter body shape for the former…
OTOH, the European Red Squirrel, which I’ve been seeing on web-cams a lot this year (watching one in Poland right now, in fact!) does look rangier than ours, I think…
Good question! 😀
I used to think that I had seen red squirrels, but it turns out that they were grey ones with a reddish tint. When I finally saw an actual red squirrel in the wild, near Sanquhar in southern Scotland, it was instantly identifiable, and not just from the fur colour, which was in fact rather greyish.
I could perhaps loan it my wig from when I was bald due to chemotherapy! However it was a red, not a grey wig, so perhaps it would be inappropriate?
Whipsnade Zoo (Zoological Society of London) is in the countryside just outside Dunstable. Hopefully they’ll show an interest?
They would certainly be a target – though they’d be more likely to send it down to London since they’re the “country wing” of the Zoological Gardens in “the Big Wen”. Both have “small mammal” collections.
I caught a bald chipmunk once, which had hair only in the places where humans and hairless dogs have it— on the crown of the head and around the genitals. Its body was nice and pink and it was healthy, no skin condition. It was really interesting, but it escaped and I wasn’t able to keep it indoors. It crossed the road and went back into the woods. No idea what happened to it. I have no doubt it had genetic hairlessness, and wish I could know if it survived.