All squirrels are black in the dark

"Love to eat them squirrels. Squirrels is what I like to eat. Chew they tiny heads off. Nibble on they tiny feet" (var. Kliban's "Mousies" song from Cat)

'Went out to check on Tiny on her tether, and there were two Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) -- one with gray fur, the other with black, more about which below. Tiny herself was crouched at the base of the Silver Maple amongst the Boston Fern leaves, wide-eyed and motionless, invisible. The squirrels gamboled a bit near the base of the trunk, taunting Tiny, then scurried up the tree. They had disappeared into the far reaches of the upper branches (right) by the time our camera was poised for a shot.

We spotted our first black Eastern Gray in the side yard a few years back, called Mass Audubon to report what seemed to us a rare sighting and were somewhat disappointed to learn they were not that uncommon in these parts:

In Massachusetts, what people are seeing is actually an Eastern Gray Squirrel with a genetic mutation that causes excessive pigmentation. This phenomenon occurs in many species, and the individuals are called "melanistic," which refers to melanin -- a chemical of pigmentation.

Massachusetts has established populations located near Springfield and scattered throughout the suburban Boston area . . . The well-established colony . . . at the Stanley Park preserve in Westfield, Massachusetts, is thought to have descended from a pair . . . that were brought there from Michigan and released in 1948. It is likely that the melanistic squirrels seen in the Amherst, Southwick, and Springfield areas are related to the Westfield squirrels.

"Native to the eastern to midwestern United States and the eastern provinces of Canada, the Eastern Gray Squirrel is common throughout most of its natural range and wherever it has been introduced," according to wordiQ, from England and Europe to South Africa. An "edge species," it can survive perfectly well in the wild but thrives in close proximity to human settlement. Visitors hand-feeding peanuts to the squirrels are an everyday sight on Boston Common. Where they have been introduced outside of their native habitat, their superior survival skills and resisitance to disease may threaten to displace native Red Squirrel populations.

Gray? Black? Red? Tiny is an Equal-Opportunity Squirrel Slayer.

Comments

[Laurence Simon]

Makes me wish I had taken my Squirrelhunt pictures in 3.2 megapixel instead of standard vga resolution.

[goomp]

Thanks for the education. More than I ever knew about squirrels. The red squirrels are more apt to be an aggravation to humans because they like to get into attics and such.

[Michelle]

Don't forget the white squirrels. There were some of them at my old college campus.

http://www.wku.edu

A photo of one should be on the front page.

[Sissy Willis]

Thanks for the hot tip, Michelle. Check out my latest post:

Black and white and gray all over