Legally Leucistic

Description

Have you ever seen a blonde groundhog? If you haven’t, there’s a reason for that: it’s because they’re rare! If you pay attention, groundhogs are usually dark brown in colouring. The blonde or white coloring typically happens due to leucism (partial pigmentation loss, often with dark eyes). These lighter-coloured groundhogs are sometimes called blonde woodchucks. This groundhog was found in the west end of Ottawa last week. And if you look closely, you can see woodchuck here has a little something in between in its teeth.

Taken By

Dani-Elle Dubé

Taken On

April 19, 2026

Tagged

animal mammal rodent rat wildlife vertebrate snout terrestrial_animal fur carnivores

Assignments

Wildlife