Snowy the white squirrel settles in gardens
Residents spoke of their surprise and delight today at spotting a rare albino squirrel scavenging for nuts in their back gardens.
The red-eyed all-white squirrel, which neighbours have nicknamed Snowy, was first spotted last autumn and is now a regular visitor alongside other normal grey squirrels in Campbell Road, Southsea, Hants.
Local resident Nausicaa Rufener, 35, said: "It was a real surprise to see Snowy, I've never seen anything like him before.
"He's really cute and the other squirrels don't seem to care that he's different. There doesn't seem to be any racism in the squirrel world - unlike with Celebrity Big Brother.
"We've called him Snowy because with the mild winter we've had up until now, we thought we wouldn't be getting any snow this year, so he's as rare as a snow shower round here."
Only one in 100,000 squirrels are born albino and the condition is caused by a rare gene inherited from the parents.
The gene is not dominant, meaning that an albino squirrel can have grey siblings.
Residents spoke of their surprise and delight today at spotting a rare albino squirrel scavenging for nuts in their back gardens.
The red-eyed all-white squirrel, which neighbours have nicknamed Snowy, was first spotted last autumn and is now a regular visitor alongside other normal grey squirrels in Campbell Road, Southsea, Hants.
Local resident Nausicaa Rufener, 35, said: "It was a real surprise to see Snowy, I've never seen anything like him before.
"He's really cute and the other squirrels don't seem to care that he's different. There doesn't seem to be any racism in the squirrel world - unlike with Celebrity Big Brother.
"We've called him Snowy because with the mild winter we've had up until now, we thought we wouldn't be getting any snow this year, so he's as rare as a snow shower round here."
Only one in 100,000 squirrels are born albino and the condition is caused by a rare gene inherited from the parents.
The gene is not dominant, meaning that an albino squirrel can have grey siblings.
