Scientists are going crazy over ‘rare’ hairless ground squirrels found near Saskatoon

An unusual hairless critter has been spotted scurrying around the Saskatoon area.

Brittnee Leveque’s son was one of the first to catch a glimpse of the mysterious rodent.

Leveque was attending a wedding at Circle H. Ranch, about 10 minutes outside of Saskatoon, when her three-year-old son called to see a cat he found outside.

She went with him and was surprised to see three black, hairless rodents running in and out of a burrow.

“I was like ‘oh, those aren’t kittens,'” said Leveque, trying to figure out what the creatures might be.

She decided to make a video of the animals and post it on Facebook. Her mother-in-law shared her findings on a local garden page.

The post attracted a lot of attention, as people tried to find out what the animals were.

Local biologist Jenna James was finally able to unravel the mystery. She identified the creature as a Richardson’s ground squirrel — commonly called a gopher — except these critters were hairless.

She reached out to colleagues and experts to confirm her findings.

They concluded she was right.

“I’ve just never encountered this before,” James said. “Even some experts in the field have never seen a naked or hairless Richardson’s ground squirrel.”

She believes the creatures are hairless due to a random genetic mutation that causes hairlessness in animals. She said this species is likely localized and doesn’t think the hairless squirrels will be seen outside the Saskatoon area.

“I think it’s really a pretty rare occurrence.”

Experts have never seen this before

“[Hairlessness] is extraordinarily rare in mammals,” said Gail Michener, a professor at the University of Lethbridge. She has been studying Richardson’s ground squirrels for decades and has never seen anything quite like the critters spotted by Leveque.

When Michener first came to Canada from Australia, she was surprised to see how little people knew about ground squirrels.

“I just wanted to learn more about these animals and – as so often happens in science – one discovery leads to another and leads to the next and I ended up spending about 40 years studying Richardson’s ground squirrels. ”

Michener said the hairless ground squirrels identified near Saskatoon can be quite uncomfortable, as they are at risk of sunburn above ground and friction below ground.

“They may have more medical problems just because they don’t have normal fur to protect their skin and keep it safe,” Michener said.

And both Michener and James think the lifespans of these unique ground squirrels will be quite short.

“Because they’re dark, they might be more visible to predators, so I don’t expect them to do very well and might die off in the winter,” James said.

Still, the scientists are baffled by their existence.

“I’ve never seen anything like it… it’s just so rare,” Michener said.