The Cellar Image of the Day

While in Princeton doing some work, this little guy came over to check me out. I was doing to the same to him, but I had a camera....

Are these more common than I think?

I heard they may also be found roaming one or both of the Carolina's.

I've seen black squirrels in the Lake Erie area.

We have some white ones around here.

I wish I could find a picture my ex took of a squirrel he found at work one day. It was bi-colored...whitish with a pattern of reddish brown, like a dog. It was dead as hell, but I have not before or since seen a squirrel like that one.

edit: after I posted this I googled squirrel colors and the first hit was this from the Cellar:

http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=12506

I have occasionally seen black ones in Iowa City, though Grey seem to be much more popular around campus. The first time I saw one, I wasn't sure what it was. We also have Fox squirrels. There are a couple huge Fox squirrels that live in the neighbor's trees behind us that we often watch from our kitchen tearing around our backyards chasing each other. I love them, endless free entertainment.

There are pockets of black squirrels here and there.

Glendale, a suburb of Cincinnati, has black squirrels. Here is an article I found from the local paper:

Quote:

What's the story behind Glendale's black squirrels?

• Thomas Carruthers III, a Glendale businessman, brought two pairs of black squirrels to the village from the resort town of Harbor Springs, Mich., in the 1940s, says his son, Tom Carruthers IV.

"He just thought it'd be fun to bring them down here," he says.

Within two weeks, one was shot and its pelt hung up at what is now the Glendale Gaslight Cafe, Carruthers says. Evidently, some combination of the other three went forth and multiplied.

• Black squirrels are Eastern gray squirrels that have a genetic variation called melanism, says Thane Maynard, vice president of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.

Melanism is the opposite of the rarer condition of albinism, which is the lack of pigment, he says.

Black squirrels and gray squirrels can interbreed, and contrary to popular Glendale belief, melanism is a recessive trait, Maynard says.

• Black squirrels can be found in other areas of the country, including northern Michigan; Council Bluffs, Iowa; Marysville, Kan.; and Kent, Ohio, according to www.roadsideamerica.com.

Marysville has adopted the black squirrel as its official mascot, adopted a "Black Squirrel Song" as its official anthem and holds an annual Black Squirrel Celebration.

Kent State University holds an annual black squirrel festival. London, Ontario, also a hot spot, has a black squirrel Web site, screensaver and downloadable song (www.victoria-park.com/mp3.htm) .

• Five competing towns - Olney, Ill.; Marionville, Mo.; Kenton, Tenn.; Brevard, N.C.; and Exeter, Ontario - all pride themselves on their white squirrel populations and celebrate them with festivals, songs and in some cases, laws.

• To Glendale officials' knowledge, no one has ever taken a census of the village's black squirrels. Any takers?

Yes, it's rare now, but as industrialism spreads the lighter-colored squirrels will stand out more in the trees, and the black squirrel population will flourish.

I'm all for Black squirrels in Higher education. I just want to be sure that a under achiving squirrel did not take the seat of deserving Light Brown squirrel simply based on the color of his or her skin,...er fur.

Mostly scrawny grey squirrels here (Texas) but I have seen black squirrels. I was living in Canada and saw sinister black shadows loping through the trees. Even after I recognized their squirrel shapes it took me a bit to realize it was the actual squirrel, and not the evil vengeful ghosts from a million road kills. The only white squirrels I have seen were stuffed ones.

HA! Good one, WillieO!

I've seen white and grey squirrels but never a black or brown one.
Surprisingly, for a cluttered suburb, we have a lot of coyotes, foxes, falcons and hawks.

Come to Vancouver, British Columbia. We have black and gray ones all over the place. My Jack Russell terrier keeps 'em running!

We have Squirrels of Color here too. There are more 40 miles away in Canada. Rumors that they went over to visit the casinos and drink and were not allowed back into the US due to the terrism-related tightening of border controls are unconfirmed.

Washington, DC has quite a few of them, too. From a story I read in the Post, they were originally brought down from Canada to go in the National Zoo. (apparently they didn't stay there.)

Yeadon, PA has had black ones for years, but they don't seem to have migrated into the surrounding burbs.

We usually have about three squirrels that hang out in our walnut tree and bomb the crap out've us when ever we try to barbecue.

Last time as shredded walnut husks poured down on me I took the garden hose to him. He moved about 2 feet to the side and the raining husks never even slowed down. Anyway last year we had a coal black squirrel as one of the crew. Much blacker than either of the above ones. Haven't seen him this year.. Maybe a hawk saw him first.

There was a black squirrel that used to raid my birdfeeder at my old townhome, and there are white squirrels at work. The campus is known for them.

Re: "While in Princeton, doing some work, this little guy came over to check me out." So--what sort of work was this little guy doing in Princeton?

oh sure, the white ones are all important and powerful... where's the aclu when you need them?

"little guy"? Take a closer look at that "little guy's" belly.

That there's a MAMA squirrel!!!!!!!

Now, the question is, are the little one's black?

I'm new to the Cellar, I signed up for one specific reason: to share my albino squirrel pictures. She was a mama too, actually. Sorry the pictures aren't better, this was pre-digital camera!

This morning, my wife told me there was a dead squirrel at the end of the driveway. 20 minutes later when I was leaving for work, I saw that he was still alive. Just barely. He looked like he was in a lot of pain and would never be able to walk again. So guess what I did with my car?

Welcome to the cellar Etoile, and thanks for sharing those pics with us. We don't have squirrels in my part of the world, so ordinary pictures of them are interesting to me, but to see a white one is awesome.

We used to live near Fontenelle Forest in Bellevue, Nebraska (next to Omaha) and often saw black, gray, and red squirrels. (That's three different kinds of squirrels--not tri-colored ones.)

Never saw a white one though. Thanks for the cool pics!

Lol, I seriously didn't think these were rare at all, but now that I think of it, when I go to the U.S. I barely see them. I live in Southern Ontario though and it's a rare day if you don't see one.