A rare ‘blonde’ leucistic red squirrel has been photographed at Ventnor Botanic Garden here on the Isle of Wight.
Such squirrels are even rarer than ‘white’ albino squirrels. Experts claim that less than 1 in a million squirrels possess the mutated gene that colours their fur blonde.
The squirrel snapped in Ventnor has leucism, which – although it turns their fur ‘blonde’ – leaves its eyes dark and does not suffer the eye problems of albino squirrels.
Ventnor Botanic Garden announced yesterday (Thursday):
“We have discovered this pretty rare little animal here Ventnor Botanic Garden.
“We consider ourselves very lucky to see one as they are rare and pretty hard to come by.
“Blonde squirrels are a special kind of squirrel with light yellow or cream-coloured fur, not the usual grey or red. This happens because of a rare change in their genes that makes their fur lighter.
“Now would be the prefect time to visit the Garden if you wanted to try and catch a glimpse of this rare little animal
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