Meet the Black Squirrel

You have probably seen the grey, no doubt you have heard of or read about the red.  But have you ever heard of a black squirriel?  The subgroup is on the rise.  If an animal was a meme, this would probably be it.  A real one, that is. The Black Squirrel, coming to a back garden near you soon(ish).... and it may have dandruff.

This is the black squirrel. Out of the squirrel population of the United States and Canada perhaps only one in ten thousand is black. However, this is not a separate species in itself. It is in fact a sub-group of the grey squirrel and, little by little their numbers are growing. In fact in some areas they outnumber the greys. However, this black coloring is not a recent trend among the squirrel community - research indicates that in the days before the European settlement of the America the black squirrel was probably much more numerous than the grey.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by taliesyn30.


Although uncommon where I grew up (Chicago), Black Squirrels were not totally unheard of. I would see them every now and then in my yard. I didn't know they were a sub-group of the grey squirrel though. Neat!
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I live in the New York City Metro area and black squirrels are common. I grew up in the Bronx and live in Westchester County. I have a family that lives in the tree next door. There mom is grey. Little bastards are all over my feeders, but I love 'em!
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There's a few black squirrels where one of my aunts live... In trois-rivières, Quebec, Canada... she had like 2 that were coming daily in her backyard to beg for some nuts :)
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My hometown (in east-central Indiana) is one of those pockets of unusually high numbers of black squirrels. I wouldn't say they outnumber the grays, but they're definitely common. I'd say the population is split 60/40 gray/black. It's been that way for a very long time--my grandfather remembered it being the same when he was a kid.
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I like to feed the squirrels (unshelled mixed nuts, no peanuts!) some weekends here in DC. Lafayette Square, the park behind the White House, is the best place to do it. There are quite a few black squirrels there. Always cool to see one.
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Black squirrels are everywhere in the DC metro area (in fact, the whole time I lived there I don't think I ever saw a regular old grey/tan one.) They look disconcertingly like rat, which are the other main wildlife in the city, and because they are feed by the tourists/tourists garbage, in some areas they have lost much of their fear of humans and will come way too close for comfort.)

Also, be on the lookout for the white squirrel (I'm assuming some kind of albinism) that lives by the Vietnam Memorial!
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Here in southern Michigan I only see black and red squirrels, not a single gre one that I remember. We sometimes get a black squirrel with a red tail though.
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During the summer of 2001 I was working in Princeton, NJ, there were several black squirrels frittering about in a local park. Never saw one before that, they're almost always gray in NJ.
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These little f-ers are tenacious. When I was at the U of IA they had little concern for the student walking around them. They'd just scurry on by without little regard as to whether or not your going to trip on them.
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Black squirrels are rare? It wasn't until I was 18 and moved away to college that I learned that there was even such a thing as a Grey squirrel. They're friggin EVERYWHERE around my place (central Ontario)
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yeah, come to ontario.. the land of black squirrels. I think I've seen maybe a few grey ones in my life.. all the rest have been black.. or black with white markings
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There are plenty of black squirrels here in southeast Kentucky. About half the squirrels in my old neighborhood were black. And they arre much smaller than the gray squirrels, so I thought they were a different breed.
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We have black squirrels and the regular red/brown kind in mid-Michigan on Olivet College campus but we have one squirrel that has a black body and a red tail.
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Oh! I forgot. We also have the tiny gray squirrels which we call "fairy squirrels". They are very small, quick and hard to see. Sometimes you think a leaf is falling off a tree but it's really a fairy squirrel.
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I never saw one here (Boston) until about 5 years ago and now I see them about once a week. Not sure how many squirrels I see in a week. Ten thousand seems like a lot. They don't seem to be as black as the one in the photo. More of a very dark brown.
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I went to Kent State University in Ohio and the campus has tons of black squirrels everywhere. They are so cute. Our radio station was named "Black Squirrel Radio" and there is even a "Black Squirrel Festival" that happens each year.
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Never seen a black squirrel in Fairfax, VA. However, I've trapped over 30 grey ones in my yard. They've made a nest in the roof of my patio and have eaten away at the patio wood and the wood on my kids' playset. Once upon a time I thought they were cute. Now, I HATE them.
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We've always called them the black squirrels of Arlington- there's always been quite a few of them here just outside of Washington, DC. I did some reading and found that they were introduced to the DC area at the beginning of the 20th century at the National Zoo.
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Another Ontarian (Ontarioan?) here... Agreed, just about all the squirrels here are black. Unless you seem them on the road, in which case they're red and black.
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Funny myopic attitude in the article. You haven't seen a black squirrel before, so it must be something unusual.

Say, I've heard about a new species of bird on the rise. It can't even fly, and it lives mostly in cold climates. It's called a penguin - ever heard of it? Ever seen one? No, I bet you haven't, but you may be seeing one soon!
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I was going to say that black squirrels are somewhat more common than greys here in Southern Ontario, but I see everyone else in Ontario beat me to it.

It's the little red monsters that are more rare.
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also from ottawa and i had no idea they were rare. They eat out of my garbage can daily.

Not a huge fan of them though, they look kind of rat-like.
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When I visited Toronto several years ago my mom and I saw a black squirrel downtown and we had never seen one and my mom being as strange as she is, started making a clicking noise and soon the park area was filled with black squirrels. I thought it was a Canadian thing or my mom has a special black squirrel calling gift.
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Only one in ten thousand are black? I guess no one told the squirrels in Vancouver, because I'm pretty sure most of them are black. We have a ton of them here on the island too.
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Yeah they really are the majorty in Southern Ontario. I've observed them to be more aggressive than the grey squirrels. They are scrappers to be sure, many with scars and frayed tails. They are the ones who will jump on your face for no reason.
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it really is funny that they are so rare. i went to school in DC and there are ONLY black squirrels--especially in the Georgetown area. they were remarkably friendly, too.

DC also had a few albino squirrels, too. when i moved there, i had no idea the squirrels would leave such an impression.
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In N.W. Wisconsin I've just started noticing a rise in black squirrels, normally we just see grey and red, but I've seen more of the black ones in the last couple years.
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I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Black squirrels are much more common where I work, while gray squirrels predominate where I live. I don't think I've ever seen a red squirrel. I figured the black squirrels moved here for the art scene.
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A neighbor from Michigan brought a bunch of black squirrels with him and now we have them in our community in east Tennessee. It's funny to see people do a double-take, as they previously were not common here.
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I was wondering if anyone would mention KSU. The campus is literally crawling with black squirrels! I love seeing them, as they are relatively rare in Akron where I live. It's weird considering the short distance between the two cities, but I pretty much only see them in Kent.
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Seems like all the squirrels in NW Arkansas are red. Black and grey ones sound exotic. I've never seen a light brown one like Secret Squirrel.
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Love these little bastards! Toronto is swarming with them...used to feed them peanuts right of my hand when I lived up there. Just grey's down here in Western NY though...
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I grew up in Westchester County NY (someone else mentioned it) and there were tons of black squirrels there. My neighbor made friends with one and it would sit on his shoulder. I had no idea they were rare.
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I was pretty amazed to find out that black squirrels are as uncommon as this article explains. I live in south-western Ontario (Canada) and it is actually quite rare to see a grey or a red squirrels; black squirrels are everywhere!
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I saw nothing but Black Squirrels in DC and Maryland areas (Chevy Chase Circle, for example, tons.) but haven't really seen them anywhere else. I remember commenting to my friend's parents that they looked kind of cute and they shot me an evil look. Apparently they tend to be a bit more bold, tenacious and destructive than most squirrels. In Chicago, they all run away from people...
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Yeah, as my fellow Ontarians have said, there are lots of black squirrels where we live. Ad to everyone who mentioned the odd white squirrel, we have a bunch of them too. Exeter, Ontario, has a bunch of 'em, and their not albino. Just white.
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Really thought this was a joke at first. Canadians only seem to have black squirrels. That's all we have...never seen a red squirrel in my life. Black ones are everywhere. I've seen thousands upon thousands in my life time.
This must be an april fools day joke or something.
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I have seen Black Tassel Eared squirrels in my area, just outside of Albuquerque NM.
They really stand out compared to the regular ol' brown squirrel.
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fact,do you know their is another type of squirrels, that also exsit in the good U S of A and that is the reddish brown squirrel.The main rereason,is when one species split off of one another.Mutation and enviormental factors,can also play a big role.I,m Beakman and now I,m lost.
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Have lots of grey squirrels (actually more brownish red, but I don't assign the names) here in San Antonio, but I recently noticed a couple of black ones close by. They also seem to be larger than the greys. Unfortunately one I've kept my eye on ended up as road kill a week ago, so I don't have him to look out for!
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vonskippy, you beat me to it.

The first and only time I saw a black squirrel was on the UBC campus in Vancouver. I posted a pic to my smugmug page and (sort of) jokingly referred to him as an "African-Canadian" squirrel.
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I moved to Lincoln, NE last July and saw my first and only black squirrel. In Madison, WI, there were none. What is their favorite food? I'd like to have him stay around.
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I've lived in both Vancouver and Toronto and found the black squirrel to be way more common than the gray one in both urban areas. Now I live just outside Vancouver in the rural countryside, I see more gray ones than black ones. My cat catches the smaller red ones.
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