Is black the new grey?

Hi Grandmage how interesting I didn't even know that a black squirrel existed, we used to have loads of squirrels in our garden until my next door neighbour got bored and decided to trap them then drown them. So sad as my son used to love seeing them we all did. Now it's one or two a month if we are lucky.

I have seen them in Toronto and Montreal, but not in the UK (yet). I did not even know they came in black till I saw some in Canada. I asked at the time and black and grey are the same species, just different hair colour. Apparently black ones do better in colder climates, so they can predominate in an area. Grey squirrels can produce black ones but 2 black squirrels breeding only produce black ones - like blue eyes in humans.

I've never seen one. It's sad that foreign species are wiping out our native red ones. I preffer the red ones, but I think even the grey ones are prettier than these. They look rather menacing to me lol

I read something about this, maybe on the BBC site, can't remember. But it's poetic justice - greys mugged the reds out of their homes, now set to be mugged out themselves!

Black are predominant here.

saw about seven jet black squirrels chasing each other around like crazy in a large garden at Houghton Mill some years ago. They seemed smaller than the grey's so I assumed they were youngsters from the same drey. No camera with me at the time unfortunately but we all stood & watched them for quite a while as they were clearly very different & entertaining.

At one of my local country parks there is a pure white squirrel, I see him quite often.

only ever seen one red Squirrel - like the grey ones - hope they do not get wiped out too much. Great picture by the way

I have never heard or seen them either,till now,G.mage..but having never been troubled by any Squirrels,I do like them.Maybe I would change my mind,if
I had to cope with the damage they cause..

Goodness....that's interesting, fascinating in fact. The black squirrel is very smart isn't he...and has a bushy tail like a red. I adore red squirrels and we do have some here, so I'm not keen on the greys. I am intrigued as to the origin of this animal. Notice that Lil says in Ontario they have lots of black...so could it have come across the pond? I'd love to know, but I hope they don't wipe out all the other squirrels....variety is the spice of life!

Poor Red squirrel won't stand a chance..

No black ones in this area of Kent so far, just lots of greys and the occasional white one. I like the look of the black ones but then I like squirrels anyway - I may feel differently if I had experienced damage/problems with them. Very interesting blog.

*s* I'm thinking of moving to the Isle of Wight, that's the only place in southern England that still has reds! We got the greys from the US, the blacks might have come the same way, or it might be a mutation that's overriding the grey colouring when they interbreed.

The prob with introducing any species to a new environemnt is that it runs amuk, not having its natural predators there to keep it in check: grey squirrels in UK, rabbits in Australia, Japanese knotweed everywere ...

the coat colour is due to a mutation/omission in the way coat colour is controlled. the tv program over simpified the genetics and sadly this happens all the time.
Same with eye colour Kildermorie. My brother and his wife nearly divorced when they had a brown eyed child and my brother naturally came to the conclusion she had been unfaithful.
It took some explaining that there are 6 gene forms needed for blue/brown eyes and the baby needed 4 brown and 2 blue to be brown. My brother would have given at least 2 brown & 1 blue as his dad was brown eyed. his wife similar.
the marriage didnt really recover sadly and they divorced
10 years later. She felt so betrayed by the accusations.

Science teachers now tend to state that eye colour is a complicated matter but in principle........ Avoids domestic disputes. My eldest girl has green eyes. I'm mid brown and hubby pale blue. That takes some explaining too :o)

I read somewhere that the brown-eye gene is four times stronger than the blue-eye gene. I can't imagine why: would there be some evolutionary advantage in having brown eyes? Do brown eyes get less dazzled by the African sun that our ancestors lived under??

Genetically speaking..I find the blue eyes of Jackdaws interesting...The only one of the corvids to have them...I wonder why?

*s* they're the blue-eyed boys of the group?

NO KS, NOOOOOOO, please don't blame Canada :)))

If its not a Red, Shoot it

Franl555 having dark irises does indeed cope better in bright light and certainly it would be an advantage in the evolution of humans in Africa. Its not so much that it is 'stronger' its just that its presence has a greater advantage in surving. if you survive you then pass on your genes.

As for Jackdaws I dont know Pimpernel, it is probably a mutation that left the eye with no or little pigment. Once in a population these mutations can easily increase. I wonder if the jackdaws found them 'sexy' and became the in thing to go for? Nice thought.

The pigment in the iris is made of melanin just as in the skin...Here in the lower light levels we actually need more light exposure..Hence the lack of melanin in both skin and eye colour.

yep thats right melanin. evolutionary wise people who had less melanin in their skin lost less heat by radiation and were at a selection advantage in cooler climates. All wonderfull, but we will never know for certain. I love this aspect of biology

Oooooohhhh hello! you didnt need me on this blog with 23 comments you have all been chatting while I was out for the day!! Thank you all for joining in, think this little black creature is here to stay and they are saying it will eventually wipe out the grey ones! but it will take time. This is why they want us to inform them of sightings so they can work out their breeding prog. etc. We shall see and it will be interesting.
Many thanks for reading my blog, lets watch this space.
Paul, I borrowed that photo from google images! :~)

never seen a black one either ............... and i have brown eyes , my boys dad had blue , one son has blue eyes one brown .................. erm . mum grey ....... dad brown , two girls brown , o...brother blue eyes , god its complicated lol !!! lets get get back to gardens , did anyone watch the boterny progrm on more 4 , tue i think . very interesting !!

Hi Cristina= Lol !!! are you having a mad moment?? Lol No didnt see prog on 4, what were they discussing?

Animals are usually pretty conservative; any one of their kind that doesn't match up is usually excluded from breeding; black wolves in an otherwise all-grey society don't have much chance of passing on their genes. Maybe squirrels are more tolerant - or colour-blind?

all bt photo sinth............... , how victorians discovered things , it was a very interesting program ....... broght home that , but for plants and trees we wud not be here at all .............. watch if repeated ........... xxx

Will do, thanks Cris. and Fran.

Never heard of them before, let alone seen one.....most interesting blog.

Thanks Dd. its been in the news a lot this last two weeks.

I'm catching up on the Gardener's Question Time archive; in the programme from Letchworth -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00lt16k

local naturalist saying as I type that black squirrels have been around for about a hundred years; they were imported from USA by a Duke of Woburn, must have escaped and interbred.

Interesting Fran, not sure about them really, as long as they dont dig up my pots thats fine by me!!

lol same here, GM!

:~)

Sorry to have missed this Grandmage . . . interesting! For many many years there have been black squirrels in North Hertfordshire. We see them in the garden all the time - usually chasing the greys, then the greys chase them back. They're very acrobatic, and don't seem to really want to catch each other!
I like to see them, though OH does grunt a bit about the holes they make in the lawn; they delve into pots too, but a bit of gravel or some small stones seems to deter them.

Sheila, I wanted you to read this because of your blog! I too like to see them running from tree to tree they are very amusing, except when digging up our pots!! That is when I hate them Lol, I have had to bring in my lilies and anemones because they kept up-rooting them, they are Ok now in the safety of my porch! Grrrrrrr.

Lol Gill :)))

Hi Grandmage... interesting blog... thank you :o)

Thanks TT. :)