Black squirrels

[snopes]

Comment: A story I wonder about:

Here in Washington, DC, there are many black-furred squirrels, in contrast
to the gray squirrel one is accustomed to seeing on the Eastern seaboard.
The story goes that some scientist gave a pair of squirrels to the
President of the U.S. some time ago -- at least a century or so -- and
they have multiplied and spread throughout the region since then. Sounds
far-fetched to me.

[Barns & No Bull]

It's almost true. The black squirrels arrived on the Mayflower along with James Monroe and never left the area around Washington Harbor.

[Lainie]

I didn't know there were black squirrels in DC. I grew up in Kent, OH, and there are black squirrels there (now migrating into the surrounding areas). I miss them, and I really miss the interesting multi-colored squirrels that occasionally result from their breeding with the gray ones. There was one in my parents' yard years ago that my dad called "the ring-tail squirrel," because its tail had patches of black and gray that looked like rings from a distance.

There are albino squirrels in my current neigbhorhood. Black squirrels are the result of melanism, which is essentially albinism in reverse.

[AnglRdr]

In the NW corner of Lower Michigan, there are almost exclusively black squirrels. I found that very odd. I never noticed that they also lived in DC.

[Beachlife!]

There is a story to go along with those Michgian squirrels. They aren't indiginous to that part of the state. Kellogg, of breakfast cereal fame, brought some down from Michigan's upper penninsula. At least according to the story, all of the black squirrels in lower Michigan descend from the Kellogg squirrels.

[Lainie]

The squirrels in Kent, OH aren't indigenous, either. A professor at Kent State University brought some back from Canada.

The squirrel population in Kent is pretty evenly distributed between gray and black squirrels. I wonder if the relative dominance of the black squirrels has to do with the size of the original introduced population. Supposedly, the Kent State prof only introduced one breeding pair.

Originally Posted by Beachlife!

There is a story to go along with those Michgian squirrels. They aren't indiginous to that part of the state. Kellogg, of breakfast cereal fame, brought some down from Michigan's upper penninsula. At least according to the story, all of the black squirrels in lower Michigan descend from the Kellogg squirrels.

That would make sense to me. Over in Battle Creek, I see a lot of black squirrels. Here in Kalamazoo, which is only 20 miles away, I almost never see a black one, only the brown ones. I've alway's wondered why there were black ones over there, and none here.

[Morrigan]

Originally Posted by Beachlife!

There is a story to go along with those Michgian squirrels. They aren't indiginous to that part of the state. Kellogg, of breakfast cereal fame, brought some down from Michigan's upper penninsula. At least according to the story, all of the black squirrels in lower Michigan descend from the Kellogg squirrels.

That's the story I heard.

And let me tell you, at my grandparent's place over in Houghton Lake, there's way too many black squirrel's. Way too many.

Morrigan

Originally Posted by Beachlife!

There is a story to go along with those Michgian squirrels. They aren't indiginous to that part of the state. Kellogg, of breakfast cereal fame, brought some down from Michigan's upper penninsula. At least according to the story, all of the black squirrels in lower Michigan descend from the Kellogg squirrels.

I grew up in Battle Creek (base of Kellogg) and the rumor I heard was that the elder Kellogg liked wood carvings and trim on his houses and squirrels tend to chew said wood. The black squirrels don't and also tend to chase off other non-black squirrels! Don't know if its true as I have never tried to feed a squirrel wood moldings but makes for a neat story.

WooHoo...my first post! I never would have thought the subject would be squirrels!