About a month ago, I heard the rustling noise of a small animal and then saw something white flash by. I freaked out a little because I wasn't sure what I had seen. It looked to be about the size of a chipmunk, but it was white. If it was a mouse, that would have been an awfully big mouse.
The second time I saw this creature, it stopped long enough to look me in the eye. It was definitely a chipmunk, but with a white face. If it was winter, I might have thought the white fur had something to do with that. But we're hardly having winter weather.
I headed to google for some help in figuring out what I'd seen. Well, it turns out animals can sometimes have something called Leucism. A leucistic animal is one that developed with a different amount of pigment on different parts of its body. They're not all white, or albino. Just some of the skin, fur, or feathers are white.
Also, unlike an albino animal, a leucistic one will have the usual eye color for its species. If you search for "leucistic animals" online, you'll see all kinds of examples! This is by no means limited to chipmunks.
So what I'd seen was a leucistic chipmunk. That has kind of a ring to it, doesn't it? I was lucky to get a photo of this chipmunk today. I saw it run into a bush and I walked around looking for it. I said out loud "Don't you want your 15 minutes of fame?" and then I saw it basically posing on a rock! And it kept in place for me to take a photo. There's even a perfect contrast between the chipmunk and the background. That could be hard to achieve with an animal that is part white and part brown.
I'm calling this one "The Phantom of the Garden" because of the white "mask" on its face. That, and this one creeps around the perimeter of the plants, occasionally peeking out.
"The Phantom of the Garden is here! To dig up your plants!" (You have to sing that to the Phantom of the Opera tune)
You can think you're pretty familiar with what's in your natural environment, and then you get a surprise. Have any of you come face to face with a leucistic creature?
To keep with the Phantom of the Opera theme, I'll leave you with Lindsey Stirling's Phantom medley:
She's amazingly talented and I love her videos!
A link to Lindsey's Phantom of the Opera:
https://youtu.be/TCL94-MsxYc
The second time I saw this creature, it stopped long enough to look me in the eye. It was definitely a chipmunk, but with a white face. If it was winter, I might have thought the white fur had something to do with that. But we're hardly having winter weather.
Also, unlike an albino animal, a leucistic one will have the usual eye color for its species. If you search for "leucistic animals" online, you'll see all kinds of examples! This is by no means limited to chipmunks.
You can think you're pretty familiar with what's in your natural environment, and then you get a surprise. Have any of you come face to face with a leucistic creature?
To keep with the Phantom of the Opera theme, I'll leave you with Lindsey Stirling's Phantom medley:
A link to Lindsey's Phantom of the Opera:
https://youtu.be/TCL94-MsxYc
What a special little visitor! And appropriately named. Interesting post as well. Hope Life is treating you well. :o)
ReplyDeleteJeanne ~ Yes! This did feel like a special sighting. It will be interesting to see if any more turn up. This one might have some kids? I'm not even sure if Leucism is genetic.
DeleteLife is treating me well, thanks! I'm actually in the process of getting ready for a trip to Colorado. I'm going in a little over a week. I'll be in Steamboat Springs for my cousin's wedding. As someone who lives in Colorado, are you familiar with Steamboat? Or Golden? We'll be in Golden for one night. Aside from those two places, we'll be in Denver for the rest of the trip.
Well isn't that neat! Are you putting out peanuts for him/her?
ReplyDeleteAlison ~ Yeah! This one was a total surprise. Nope, no peanuts. I'm not generally even wanting chipmunks around, even though I have to admit that they're cute. It's just that they dig up what I plant and then plant sunflower seeds in the place of it! I've made lemonade out of lemons by replanting the sunflower seeds, though. Those flowers do look nice when they're where you want them!
DeleteAnyway, this one seems to be eating fine on its own, probably out of someone's bird feeder. Even with my chipmunk issues, I think this Leucistic one is pretty cool. It's so different! And it could be my imagination, but it acts nicer than the regular ones.
You have the most interesting wildlife near you! I discovered a very alien look spider that I'll be posting about...next week I think.
ReplyDeleteDex ~ I'm starting to think so! It's like every few days, I'm seeing a new animal, bird, or insect. I'm looking forward to seeing your alien spider! I'll keep an eye out for that. Have you managed to identify it yet?
DeleteI think I managed to figure it out using insectidentification.org but I don't want to spoil it :)
DeleteDex ~ OK, Good call! Keep it a secret until you put up that post!
Delete"leucistic chipmunk" does indeed have kind of a ring to it. In fact, it'd be a great name for a rock band.
ReplyDeleteRaymond ~ Haha! So true! They'd be an 80's Hair Band, right? It's got that two word ring to it, like Twisted Sister. ;)
DeleteOh that is so cute - a snow chip monk! I've never seen anything like that. He'll probably hang around a lot, chip monks are very territorial :) Great picture.
ReplyDeleteMatt ~ Yes! He was a snowy little chipmunk. This is the kind of look I'm used to seeing on an animal in winter. Last winter, I saw some squirrels with what I called "White earmuffs" on. The furry tops of their ears were snow white. And I've seen rabbits look whiter in winter.
DeleteYeah, seeing this chipmunk was a definite first for me too! That makes sense that they're territorial, because I've read that they mark things with their scent. Like potted plants they want to revisit, so they can dig up what they previously planted there!
Thanks, I felt lucky to get that photo. I know you're a wildlife fan too, so I wanted to be sure to share this post with you!
I'd be spooked out too. We have these all around us and in the park. I've had to do my best to keep them out of the house (over100 year house). We had an albino robin in park years ago. My husband kept seeing him, because he works in the park.
ReplyDeleteLorelei ~ Ooh... so it sounds like there might be some crevices for the chipmunks to get in? I mean with an older home. That's cool that you live in a house that old! I'm thinking of all the ways you could decorate a house like that for Halloween. You probably have some neat details to work with.
DeleteAn albino robin! Like, entirely white? Did it look cool? I saw a picture of a leucistic red-tailed hawk online. It looked like an entirely different bird. Very pretty. It reminded me of a giant dove, but with more of a hawk's face. They're worth looking up online!