Its rare and the complete hairlessness is probably due to a genetic defect as this is rarely seen in the wild.
Posted on 11/23/2015 3:08:08 PM PST by goldstategop
A centre spokesman confirmed to the BBC the squirrel was "safe and alive" but could not reveal any further information about what would happen to it now. 'Genetic defect'
The RSPCA said under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it was generally illegal to release grey squirrels back to the wild once treated by a vet.
Dr Helen McRobie, a lecturer in biomedical science at the Anglia Ruskin University, 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."
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Its rare and the complete hairlessness is probably due to a genetic defect as this is rarely seen in the wild.
Obviously due to GLOBAL WARMING!!!
By this time tomorrow some Left Wing Loon will levy this as a serious “scientific” allegation.....
ALL SQUIRRELS MUST DIE!!!
Grey squirrels are invasive in Britain and drive out the red squirrels from their habitat.
You thought you could read a light-hearted animal thread and get a break from politics and bad news.
Its cute though.
Like a Sphinx cat.
Ah...this one must have just finished his lolly pop..
We sure that isn’t just a hairless RAT?
When I was a kid my dad had a bucket of solvent in the shop to wash parts on his cat dozer he was working on. Somehow our orange tabby cat fell into the bucket and lost all his hair. He looked just like that for a couple of months until the hair grew back.
A lot of people refer to them as “tree rats”, which without the fur I can see;a little fur goes a long way to being cute and cuddly.
Which is why when ever I’m feeling a little jiggy and frisky,I don my fur.
Somehow???!
I haven't seen any red squirrels for a long time. Sad. They get hit by cars and bred out.
I do have a little black one I call Zooey who comes to feed. Saw her today. She had babies up in my birch tree; my daughter saw them nursing. It appears she moved them because I feed a cat plus mine got out one day and scared her.
About two nights ago I saw an opossum feeding. They don't panic. When I opened the door, instead of climbing down the stoop, she came toward me by the porch rail and slid under it. They don't see well.
Last year I finally got a mother coon and her young one. So cute. They scurry off in a hurry if I startle them. I give them wide berth but enjoy watching them. Probably shouldn't feed them, usually what the birds don't eat in the daytime.
We now give raccoons a really, really wide birth. A little half-grown one walked right up to our dog, attacked her and then our daughter when she pulled it off the dog’s face.
Rabies shots all around.
I’ve only ever seen red squirrels in evergreens - one hemlock avenue in Massachusetts, an island in Vermont, and in Alaska.
The Alaskan ones hang mushrooms up in the tree to dry, and then put them in their food storage midden!
Yes???! Somehow!
Confirms my long held suspicions that squirrels are just big ol rats with long fur.
But my they are tasty!! Smothered Squirrel Yum!
That breed must be the inspiration for Zappa’s tune.
Zombie Woof
A little bigger and it could pass for a Chupacabra.
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