Hairless squirrel is the talk of North Carolina neighborhood.
Just when you think you’ve seen it all when it comes to freaky animals, along comes “Earl the naked squirrel.” No, really!
Some residents of a Brices Creek neighborhood in Craven County North Carolina noticed a really strange-looking baby squirrel was born last year. Everyone has seen a black squirrel before and every once in a while, pictures of white ones pop up on the internet.
But Earl is an even rarer and stranger than that, he has no hair at all! WITN News reports that despite being completely “naked,” Earl somehow made it through his first winter and seems to be fairly healthy.
As for what caused Earl’s rare condition, there are a number of different possible causes. Purdue University reports in a short article on their website that mange is often first assumed as the cause in cases of hairless squirrels. But it’s usually something else entirely.
“While mange is commonly presumed to be the culprit, most hair loss in squirrels is caused by a variety of superficial fungal diseases generally termed dermatophytoses,” the article said.
In fact, Earl’s strange condition may simply be the result of his genetics. “Some hair loss in gray and flying squirrels is thought to be an inherited condition where the hair follicles are non-functional or absent,” the article states.
Whatever the cause, you can’t deny the residents of Brices Creek don’t have a pretty unique animal living as their neighbor!