The squirrel with the golden tail

June 5, 2024 • 3:38 pm

I know:  the title sounds like a James Bond movie. . .

Over the last few years, the squirrels around Botany Pond have seemed to acquire a gene form that gives them golden tails. Now I don’t know if it’s a gene, but I don’t see how anything else can produce several squirrels with golden tails. (Not all of them have it.)

For your delectation, here are two shots of one I took on my way home. Since I always carry a stash of nuts in my bag for squirrels, this one got a pecan, and was delighted to have it.

If you’ve seen squirrels like this, or know how they develop this way, let me know.

28 thoughts on “The squirrel with the golden tail”

  2. We used to see completely golden squirrels (which we called Blondies) in our back yard quite frequently. But over the last 20 years or so, we now only see the occasional blondie on our end of the block. They are still very prevalent just a few 100m up the street, although now blonde tails predominate ones that are fully golden.

    I’ve always thought it would be fun to study this color morph.

    1. Wow. Thank you for sharing! I thought this was very unusual since I’ve never seen or heard of it but Prof. Coyne has some very observant readers.

  4. We get gray squirrels with golden tails from time to time. In another variation, sometimes there are black squirrels, and a couple of winters ago there were a pair of black ones with golden tails. I almost emailed you about them but I wasn’t able to get a good photo. Black ‘n Gold being the official colors of the Iowa Hawkeyes (the local university team), that pairing doesn’t actually stand out too much around here. Although “Go Hawks!” probably has a different connotation among squirrels.

  5. In northeast Ohio, we get the black morph of the eastern grey squirrel (descended from 10 individuals released from Kent State in 1961). Occasionally, you’ll see one with a golden tail. Absolutely gorgeous.

    1. I see quite a few of the black ones in regional concentrations. I’ve wondered if it was an example of the founder effect.

  6. Greetings from west side of Indianapolis. We have many squirls in the area with pure white tails. When they run they look like scared deer.
    Jack

  9. We had a black one with a golden tail here in the Rochester NY area a few years ago. Didn’t get great pics unfortunately. Also had some white ones with tan markings on their back and a grayish-tan tail.

    1. Whereabouts in the Rochester area? I grew up in Irondequoit, lived in the Park Ave neighborhood, and now live in Greece (N.E. of Sweden!) and I’ve never seen any but ordinary-colored squirrels.

      1. Pittsford. I’m surprised you haven’t at least seen the plain black ones; we see them fairly often around the area (though not as commonly as the gray ones of course).

  10. Okay now I’ve got Shirley Bassey in my head singing “The Squirrel with the Golden Tail”.

  12. Very interesting squirrel. I’ve never seen one like that out here in BC.

    1. The squirrels in an undeveloped area in Claremont, California have white epaulette-like patches on their shoulders. My research may be deficient, but as far as I could tell, they aren’t a subspecies or a variant, just a local mutation.

      1. Those are typical California ground squirrels (Otospermophilus beecheyi)

        1. I dunno. Wikipedia says O. Beecheyi has lighter gray neck, shoulders, and sides, not white shoulders.

  13. They have been watching Jean Harlow movies and have access to bleach.

  15. Once in eastern Pennsylvania a squirrel darted out from the woods and I ran it over. Of all possible squirrels it turned out to be the true albino I’d been noticing for months.

  16. I have been seeing them in my backyard in Carmel, IN but no idea what causes the blonde tail. I love seeing them!

  17. Thanks to Wendy for posting. It reminded me that I had forgotten to let the host know we saw a few of them in a public park during a visit to Toronto in late June but have still not seen any here in suburban Hamilton.

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