what color are your squirrels?
 

In this area most are grey. We have some white ones. People say they're albino but I argue that albinism is a recessive gene, and very rare, so there wouldn't be so many of them. Also, their eyes aren't pink.

I have seen black squirrels in the Lake Erie region.

I saw a red and white one, too. My ex had found it and taken a picture because we had never seen a bi-colored squirrel before. I was all like "how cute" until I realized it was all sprawled out because he found it dead.

Squirrel colors seem to be geographically determined, so what do you have in your area? I'm hoping to get a grant to do a Cellar Study of the Geographical Determinations of Squirrel Pigmenation.

Around here - grey

At the shore - black

I've seen the red ones, too, but I can't recall where.

The ones that scamper about our campus, look grey, but with red across their backs and the top of their tails. I don't know if that means they're red squirrels or grey squirrels. Supposedly our native red squirrels have been all but wiped out by the grey immigrants:P

Our native squirrel is the black Abert's squirrel. You mostly see them out in the wild. In the towns the red squirrel has become dominent. Red squirrels are NOT native and got here from the Eastern US, following the towns. They are a regular nuisance!

Reds are native to Britain, not sure where the greys came from, but over the last 40-50 years numbers of Reds have dropped significantly.

Mostly light brown, trending to red. I saw jet black squirrels in Colorado once. I even have a pic at home, I think.

From what I can tell on the road, though, they're all red on the inside.

Gray and Black at home. At work we have a couple of White Squirrels. I have to keep telling patients they are really seeing them.

Awesome! :)

Gray and Black here.

The ones her are ...um...earth-tones? You know... tans, browns, the like.

gray and red here. We see the occasional flying type and I thought I saw a black up the road a piece but they are not sposed to be here.

Yeah our native Colorado black squirrels are cool. They even have tufted ears!

The black squirrels look really great.
Has anyone else ever seen the bi-colored ones?

(Careful, I hear bi-colored squirrels are pushing for bi-colored marriage legislation.)<----couldn't help myself.

Gray squirrels here. The ones in CA where I grew up were a sandy brown color, but they were ground squirrels. The ones here in GA are tree squirrels.

I recently saw pics of what looked like a "pinto" marked deer, red with white splotches. I would venture to say that the mismarked white are recessive genes and the lack of carniverous predators to seek out the 'different' and human hunters to seek the 'perfect' are what are allowing these mutations to proliferate.

Isn't there a town that advertises their "white squirrels" as a bit of a tourist attraction?
hh

Yes, there are, HH. I was looking this up earlier and saw a few towns who tout their "albino" squirrel population. Funny enough, some of these folks went on and on about their albino squirrels, saying the only difference was their eyes are black.

It's been a few years since college biology and Punnet Squares (I loved those) but I believe albinism is a complete lack of pigment, including the eyes (which would look pink.) Any biologists know for sure?

OMG - another thread I cant participate in because we dont have farkin squirrels.

The people I stay with in MO are always highly amused at my fascination with the little fellas...they are all like "ohh look at how much aussies like squirrels".

Woodpeckers, they are another thing that keep me enthralled for hours.

don't worry, I'll get you in
 

You mean, after all these years, no one has managed to smuggle a couple over in their purse? I mean, they breed like, uh...squirrels.:p

My ex sis-in-law lives in New Zealand and I am fascinated by the vast difference in indigenous animals. How do NZs and OZ critters compare?

Kent Ohio celebrates their black squirrels.

In Mpls, we have mostly fat urban grays, with an occasional white or black one popping up. I did see a smaller redish one a few weeks back, not sure if it was a teenager, or really a red one, those I usually see in the north woods.

No comparison Shawnee - NZ has nothing bitey or that can kill you (being that it just appeared out of the ocean and didnt separate from a *mainland*) and we have some of the most deadly little shitters in the world.

Just coz theyre cute n fluffy doesnt mean they wont eviscerate you in a blink of an eye :worried:

NZ doesnt even have nasty spiders or snakes.

Oh and no, no smuggling of cute little squirrels yet. I think they learned their lesson when they decided we needed to bring some rabbits over.

Oh, that was one
crazy party.



I am hung over.



Tell me about it.



I woke up this morning



and I shit a squirrel.



I mean it.
Literally.



Hell of it is,
damn thing's still alive.



So I got this
shit-covered squirrel



down there in the office.



Don't know what to name it.



I'm sorry, Champ.



I think I ate
your chocolate squirrel.

OK, then tell us what color your wombats are, that's only fair :)

Yeah, what color are your toads!

The last "squirrel" that was around here was kinda blond.:bolt:

Welllllll, our wombats range from Black to Browny Grey...so squirrel coloured I guess :p

Toads, they are flame coloured when dipped in petrol and used at gold balls :blush:

The Blacks are coming in across the border from Canada illegally. They must be following the those miserable Canada Geese that get here and refuse to migrate.

What is the recommended load for something like this?

Gee...I didn't think this thread would really be about squirrels. How depressing.

Toads are disgusting. Stupid scientists.

We have rabbits. They came from Britain. So did the hares...and foxes (they're usually red).

Bloody poms. Someone should blow them all up!

???

Our tree squirrels are brown with pretty gold tinged tails.

Our ground squirrels are grey.

Camoflage!

Our ground squirrels are really aggressive. They live in the rocks at the beach. One day we were sitting on the beach eating our lunch and the squirrels came right up to us and starting taking the food from our laps!!

We had a tug-of-war with one of them!!! They are strong little buggers.

Paisley.

Ohhh I want me a paisley squirrel, or a paisley womat...how cool.

We had a *pet* womat growing up, its mother was hit by a car (they do alot of damage for a little thing)....nasty little Rosa is was it was, she would bite your kneecaps like they were apple - coz she could!!

Oh the toad thing,

Toads are a pest over here, so they are *often* the butt of cruelty...dunked in petrol and set alight at nite...so they hope off into the very short distance.

Dunked in petrol, set alight and whacked with golf clubs....etc etc.

Gray squirrels in south central Pa. that are getting very fat at the moment. Black squirrels in Princeton NJ, and they are proud of them. I have seen white squirrels a couple of times while biking - easy to spot.

Our most common squirrels are officially grey by name, but the colour varies and I was convinced when I was younger that I had seen red squirrels. I realise now that the real red squirrels (only in Scotland now I think) aren't just a russet version of the greys - picture below should help clarify. I've never seen one in real life.

When I lived in London I'd go and feed the people-friendly (grey) squirrels in Valentines Park, which was close to where my Mum grew up so a familiar place to me from family visits. I'd sit quietly for darkening November hours with frozen feet holding a bag of monkey nuts and waiting for them to approach me. It seemed worth it at the time. Then I'd thaw my feet out stomping across the frosted grass to feed the greedy ducks.

We have them on the park at the end of my road here, but they 're just the there-and-gone type, not the stay-still-and-I'll-approach you type. Sigh.

WTF does this mean?
:confused:

Australia had no indigenous toads; they were introduced to the continent to combat cane beetles (unsuccessfully.) Here is the story.

I think there are still a few pockets of red squirrels all over Britain, but they are the only squirrel we have here on my island. I see them often, either running across the road, or having failed to :( . In this context, I can confirm that red squirrels have white tummy fur.
I was told that the Nasty Grey Squirrel came from America ...

Everytime I drive to my parents house (Evansville IN) from Champaign IL, I drive through Olney, IL, home of the white squirrels. They are so cute and friendly. I always stop in the park to feed them.

Olney is called Home of the White Squirrels. http://www.ci.olney.il.us/

... that gave me a real jolt.
It also happens to be my surname in real life!

A lot of towns claim that fame. At least a few of them admit that they are NOT ALBINOS.

The squirrels here are usually grey or brown, like Elspode said. That is probably because we are not that far away from each other geographically speaking.

Sorry Labrat. I didn't mean all scientists. Just the ones that make ill considered decisions/recommendations based on incomplete studies.

The irony of the original statement was that at the time I was pissed off because there were toads living in our fish pond which is full of introduced fish. ;)

...I guess that nobody introduced them to the toads....

Mr Horny, allow me to introduce you to Ms Goldfish...

Ms Goldfish, Mr Horny....
Mr Horny. Ms Goldfish.... now, I'll just leave you young couple to get along together...

Mr Horny: wabbit....
Ms Goldfish: have we been introduced....?

Ummm....Jay, did you take your medication this morning? lol

Hmm...carnivorous squirrels? The bags of monkey nuts weren't still attached to the monkeys, I hope? :D

As ong as it wasn't Ducksnuts

Hey, hey, wait a minute, I'm "Toad Clan." AND, the U.S. desert variety of toads are actually pretty cute; plus very hardy, resourceful, and patient (remembering how we f'd around with them when my sister and I were kids).

As for squirrels, I've usually spotted the big gray ones. But when I lived in DC, I'd see the occasional little wispy black ones. How they survived, I don't know.

The cane toads I'm referring to are not very cute at all. They're toxic to animals that eat them or even touch them. They gobble up the native fish eggs. They live in back yards and get in pets drinking water...again, toxic.

They're not native. They're horrible disgusting filthy creatures.

Oh...southwest US desert toads aren't toxic. The toads you're talking about sound like @ssholes.

lol...yeah...arseholes. that's what they are. One of our dogs was killed by one when we were kids. It was very distressing and a horrible death for the dog. Dad ended up taking her up the paddock and shooting her to put her out of her misery.

Our squirrels are mostly brown with white trim--one interesting thing I've noticed on very rare occasions is a bright red tail--it looks unnaturally less 'fluffy' than a normal squirrel's. I've always attributed this occurrence to the unique diet of the 21st century squirrel.

I never much cared for the species in general...

That's terrible--I'm sorry to hear that. Where do the cane toads come from?

They brought them over from South America to eat the cane beetles years ago. The only problem is, the cane beetles sit at the top of the sugar cane and the toads can't reach them. The toads are now out of control and impossible to get rid of. It's a national passtime for qld boys to go 'toad hunting' at night and see who can kill the most toads. The use such weapons as cricket wickets, golf clubs and lumps of wood.

Oh wonderful, who was the dumbass who thought up that one. I had no idea you guys had sugar cane there. Do you have caipirinhas? :D

Some dopey scientist. Someone shot him years ago (I hope!). lol

Don't know what that last thing is, but we definitely have sugar cane here.

A caipirinha is a Brazilian cocktail, involving lime, sugar and cachaca (a sort of Brazilian rum). It's absolutely delicious, and a stick of sugar cane finishes it off nicely.

Ahhh...I see. Sounds good too. Maybe I'll have to look into it, although we don''t get sticks of sugarcane very easily, so maybe no point.

Oh yes they are! Haven't you heard about the Colorado River toads? When the monsoons start they end up in every dog dish in Tucson, and they are poisonous :worried:

Agreed, fuzzy rats is what they are.
Welcome to the cellar, splangy.:D

Our squirrles drink out of fountains.

Nooooo, I hadn't before--apparently they're in New Mexico, too, but I'd never come across one. :eek: