::tigger3

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I spotted this black squirrel here at my mom's. He darted up the tree, and gave me a moment to click.

Here is a little bit of info. on them

As a melanistic variety of the eastern grey squirrel, individual black squirrels can exist wherever grey squirrels live. Grey mating pairs cannot 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.[1] In areas with high concentrations of black squirrels, mixed litters are common.[2] The black subgroup seems to have been predominant throughout North America prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, since their dark colour helped them hide in old growth forests which tended to be very dense and shaded. As time passed, hunting and deforestation led to biological advantages for grey coloured individuals.[3] Today, the black subgroup is particularly abundant in the northern part of the eastern grey squirrel's range.[4][5] This is likely due to the significantly increased cold tolerance of black squirrels which lose less heat than greys.[5] Black squirrels also enjoy concealment advantages in denser northern forests.

Thank you in advance for commenting.

We are due for some beautiful weather here but north of us they are getting hammered again with the white stuff. Hopefully everyone will be able to enjoy some spring weather soon! :)

Tigs♥ =^..^=