Friday, 25 April 2025

Less Common Black Fur Squirrels in the City - Nature 156

The common fur color of squirrels is gray in our city, Baton Rouge. It is Eastern Gray squirrel species. 


Image 01 - A Black fur squirrel

We just saw the black fur squirrel in our neighborhood, quite rare to see this color as far as we remember.

I tried to search through internet, interestingly, the sources said that the squirrel is origin from Eastern gray squirrel breeding with genetic variation process called as "melanism."  

The pigmen which is called "Melanin" has a role to control dark color in organisms. By production of more melanin means more dark color in parts such as fur, scales, skin, eyes or hair. 


Image 02 - Not black fur, illustration

What fur colors have you ever seen squirrels in your areas?

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11 comments:

  1. Lovely squirrels !
    We don't see any around here...
    Anna

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  2. They are nature's scavengers

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  3. Paso a desearte un ñint fin de semana.
    Besos.

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  4. Curious, the color of the squirrels in my area is reddish brown (Sciurus vulgaris) it is curious to see those contrasts of colors.
    Happy weekend.
    Best regards.

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  5. Have never seen one...just the brown one.

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  6. Linda ardilla. Te mando un beso.

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  7. Squirrels always look cute to me.

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  8. Black squirrels are so striking and beautiful — it must have been such a nice surprise to see one in your neighborhood. I’ve mostly seen gray squirrels where I live, but every once in a while I spot a reddish-brown one. It's fascinating how genetic variations like melanism can create such unique appearances in wildlife. Thank you for sharing this rare and wonderful moment!

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  9. We have mostly brown fur squirrels but I have seen the dark fur ones in other cities.

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  10. These squirrels you showed are not found in the Netherlands. The ones that do live here are the Sciurus vulgaris, also called the red or common squirrel. Its fur, as its name suggests, is reddish-brown. Adults are between 20 and 30 centimeters tall. They have a large fluffy tail that is almost as long as their body. I wrote once about them on my nature website.

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