A question I am frequently asked is  "Do white and gray variants inter-mate?".    All along I have asserted that they do but with little documentation to back me up.   Almost all our information is anecdotal.  A number of observers have witnessed both white and gray aggressors chasing and mounting squirrels of the other variety.  Now Jeremy Benjamin has captured it on film (although we have reason to believe that this is actually part of practice/play exploratory behavior rather than a real mating).  Of course, courtship and mating do not necessary lead to viable offspring.  It seems that most sightings of white young so far have been associated with white mothers.  If a presumed sib is present, it too is usually white.  But mixed litters have been observed.  Last Fall, Security Officer Alvin Dodson found three baby squirrels beneath a nest near the Sims Art Building.  Two were gray, one was white.  A fourth baby was found that evening, making a total of two white and two gray.  Alvin is convinced that they are all from the same litter and notes that there had been an adult white squirrel, presumably the mother, frequenting that tree until shortly before the accident.  He speculates that something happened to the mother and the hungry young wandered from the nest prematurely.   Jeremy Benjamin recently observed what he thought to be a family of squirrels in a tree cavity den in Franklin Park consisting of two young white squirrels and two adults, one white and one gray.  During the Fall 1998 squirrel count, Kathleen Devoe and Loreen Silvis observed something similar on Park Avenue although there was only one baby in that situation.   Certainly white and gray squirrels of the same age cohort have been seen foraging together as in this photo, suggesting that they may be siblings.  In this regard, it is also worth mentioning that Melanie, a Brevard-like white squirrel from Orlando (see The Florida Connection) was originally found together with a normal gray sibling.   The observation of gray bodied squirrels with white tails, ears, and/or paws and tan (ochre) bodies with white tails (see miscellaneous picture page), is also best explained by inter-mating.

Jennifer Burgin is a wildlife rehaber from Mills River in Henderson County.  In Fall of 1997, she revived a white squirrel that had been electrocuted in Brevard and raised her by hand to maturity.  Although "Snowflake" survived she never completely recovered and remained semi-dependent on her benefactor.  Jennifer released her into their backyard located in a remote area  with no other known white squirrels.  "Snowflake" nested in the nearby trees but returned to the Burgin's porch to feed and socialize daily.  Soon she became pregnant; the only males available for mating were gray.  Because she was actually able to hold "Snowflake", Jennifer was able to determine exactly when she got pregnant, gave birth, and weened her young.  The first litter in Fall 1998 was kept hidden from even Jennifer (despite numerous stakeout attempts by Brevard College students).   However, in February 1999, she became pregnant again.   This time,  in April, Jennifer was previed to a view of them at the opening of their nest alongside their mother.  There were two, both gray.