August 16, 2011

Squnks: Piebald Sciurus carolinensis

What’s going on here? What is a squnk?


An unusual squirrel searches for food beneath a bird feeder at the home of Harry and Alice Hilliard near Sauble Beach, Canada, in 2008. Photo by Kevin Loader.

Photographs are newly under discussion on the Internet of piebald (black and white) squirrels (Eastern gray squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis), taken in High Park area, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Considering that Cryptomundo has spent some time discussing both black (melanistic) and white (albino, or near albino, i.e. leucistic) squirrels, what are we to make of these new squnks, that even have photographic evidence?


Anyone have any information on this black & white squirrel population, in terms of how many there are?

Other locations?

For more on past black squirrel and white squirrel postings at Cryptomundo, see: 1, 2, 3, and 4. Plus, see 2006’s Top Ten White & Black Squirrels’ Hot Spots, and Yahoo: “Salt & Pepper Squirrels” #1.

(Idea from a mention by Karl Shuker.)

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

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