Black squirrels ARE grey squirrels. Same species, different color phase. Think what cinnamon bear is to black bear.
It sounds like in the pre-settlement days before the eastern old growth forests were all cut down, black squirrels made up the majority of the grey squirrel species.
If you're in a part of the country where you don't have black squirrels, I bet it's really cool to see one.
From the web...
As a melanistic variety of the eastern grey squirrel, individual black squirrels can exist wherever grey squirrels live. Grey mating pairs can not produce black offspring. Grey squirrels have 2 copies of a normal pigment gene and black squirrels have either 1 or 2 copies of a mutant pigment gene. If a black squirrel has 2 copies of the mutant gene it will be jet black. If it has 1 copy of a mutant gene and 1 normal gene it will be brown-black. In areas with high concentrations of black squirrels, mixed litters are common. The black subgroup seems to have been predominant throughout North America prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, since their dark color helped them hide in virgin forests which tended to be very dense and shaded. As time passed, hunting and deforestation led to biological advantages for grey colored individuals. Today, the black subgroup is particularly abundant in the northern part of the eastern grey squirrel's range. This is likely due to the significantly increased cold tolerance of black squirrels which lose less heat than greys. Black squirrels also enjoy concealment advantages in denser northern forests.
Large natural populations of black squirrels can be found throughout Ontario and in several parts of Ohio, Maryland, Michigan, Indiana, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. Populations of grey squirrels in which the black subgroup is predominant can be found in these six areas as well as in smaller enclaves in Missouri, New Jersey, southern New York, Illinois and Connecticut.
Here's an interesting tidbit, concerning Michigan...
Black squirrels are abundant in Battle Creek, Michigan, and according to legend were first introduced there by Will Keith Kellogg, founder of the Kellogg Company, in an effort to destroy the local population of red squirrels. The story continues that this same population of squirrels was further introduced to the campus of Michigan State University by John Harvey Kellogg for the same purpose.
Topic: Black Squirrel (Read 1479 times)
