{"id":249660,"date":"2026-01-17T14:09:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T14:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/249660\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T14:09:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T14:09:08","slug":"driver-locks-eyes-with-rare-animal-in-tree-a-1-in-750000-sight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/249660\/","title":{"rendered":"Driver Locks Eyes With Rare Animal In Tree \u2014 A 1-In-750,000 Sight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-element-index=\"0\">While driving home the other day down a forested road in Texas, TikTok user <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@thebeandips\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@Thebeandips<\/a>\u2019 dad had an experience he will not soon forget. And it all began with a random sighting of some animals in the street ahead.<\/p>\n<p data-element-index=\"1\">\u201cThey turned and crossed the road approximately 50 feet in front of me,\u201d Dad told The Dodo. \u201cThat is when I realized they were raccoons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-element-index=\"2\">But after a couple of the raccoons moseyed up a tree, he realized one was not like the rest.<\/p>\n<p data-element-index=\"3\">Thebeandips\u2019 dad slowed his car to a stop &#8230; and realized he was seeing something special.<\/p>\n<p data-element-index=\"0\">There, high in the tree, was an all-white raccoon, an apparent albino.<\/p>\n<p data-element-index=\"1\">Albinism is believed to occur in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skedaddlewildlife.com\/location\/new-albany\/blog\/rare-albino-raccoon-sighting-in-ohio\/#:~:text=It%20happens%20when%20an%20animal%20is%20born,red%20because%20the%20blood%20vessels%20show%20through.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">only one out of every 10,000 to 20,000 raccoons born<\/a>. The odds of seeing one in the wild, however, are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/news\/local\/2024\/08\/15\/1-in-750000-rare-raccoon-spotted-dumpster-diving-in-college-station\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">said to be one in 750,000<\/a> \u2014\u00a0making this an extremely rare sighting.<\/p>\n<p data-element-index=\"0\">After pausing to lock eyes with Thebeandips\u2019 dad, the rare raccoon continued on his way.<\/p>\n<p data-element-index=\"1\">\u201cThe entire encounter was awesome, but the eye contact was intense,\u201d Thebeandips\u2019 dad said.<\/p>\n<p data-element-index=\"2\">The raccoon had clearly been curious about him, too.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768658947_435_scale;webp=auto;jpeg_quality=60.jpg\"  alt=\"An albino raccoon in a tree\" width=\"792\" height=\"1056\" style=\"display:block;height:auto;aspect-ratio:792 \/ 1056\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@thebeandips\/\" data-vars-href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@thebeandips\/\" data-vars-ga-action=\"click\" data-vars- rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@Thebeandips<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-element-index=\"0\">For Thebeandips&#8217; dad, crossing paths with such a rare and beautiful animal filled him with wonder like few experiences ever have, saying:<\/p>\n<p data-element-index=\"1\">&#8220;It was not just the highlight of the day, it was and has been one of the coolest things I have seen in nature.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedodo.com\/daily-dodo\/woman-makes-rare-discovery-after-spotting-white-rock-on-roadside\" data-vars-href=\"https:\/\/www.thedodo.com\/daily-dodo\/woman-makes-rare-discovery-after-spotting-white-rock-on-roadside\" data-vars-ga-action=\"related link\" data-vars-ga-label=\"daily-dodo\/woman-makes-rare-discovery-after-spotting-white-rock-on-roadside\" data-vars- rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768658948_966_flatten;crop;webp=auto;jpeg_quality=60.jpg\" alt=\"Woman Makes Rare Discovery After Spotting White \u2018Rock\u2019 On Roadside\" width=\"116\" height=\"156\" style=\"display:block;height:auto;aspect-ratio:116 \/ 156\" loading=\"eager\"\/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedodo.com\/daily-dodo\/woman-makes-rare-discovery-after-spotting-white-rock-on-roadside\" data-vars-href=\"https:\/\/www.thedodo.com\/daily-dodo\/woman-makes-rare-discovery-after-spotting-white-rock-on-roadside\" data-vars-ga-action=\"related link\" data-vars-ga-label=\"daily-dodo\/woman-makes-rare-discovery-after-spotting-white-rock-on-roadside\" data-vars- rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Woman Makes Rare Discovery After Spotting White \u2018Rock\u2019 On Roadside\u201cIt was crazy, honestly.\u201d<\/a><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While driving home the other day down a forested road in Texas, TikTok user @Thebeandips\u2019 dad had an&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[125214,1285,61,60,82,1284,15034,1282,263,25533],"class_list":{"0":"post-249660","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-albino-raccoons","9":"tag-daily-dodo","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-standard","14":"tag-stephen-messenger","15":"tag-the-dodo","16":"tag-wildlife","17":"tag-wildlife-encounters"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}