Rare Squirrel Spotted in Littleton

It was just a few weeks ago that Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers shared a r are sighting of a melanistic fox in Cañon City. Instead of having reddish-brown fur, the fox had a totally black coat.

This week, CPW shared another melanistic animal spotted in Colorado. This time, it was a rare squirrel, seen on Thursday (June 17) in Littleton.

As seen in the video, the squirrel is sporting black fur, rather than the typical brown color that we're used to seeing in Colorado. Melanism is caused by genetics, and in this case, the squirrel is missing a piece of a gene that's involved in producing the pigments that color its fur.

A Colorado resident replied to CPW's video of this squirrel and posted another melanistic squirrel that they saw in Colorado Springs recently too.

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Filed Under: Colorado Wildlife

Categories: Colorado Outdoors