I saw a brief little article on BBC news this morning about black squirrels threatening to take over from the grey squirrels. Basically they have an excess of a certain hormone which makes them black, more aggressive and territorial, but crucially more attractive to females.

The thought is that they might eventually take over from the grey squirrels. Has anyone seen a black squirrel or got more information?

There are colonies of black squirrels here in the United States, and they remain a curiosity, rather than spreading.

So, interesting information, but I think it remains to be seen if they would take over. For one thing, the black colour would tend to make them more visible to predators, so they might be more easily picked off as prey.

Kingfisher

That's what I thought when I heard the article, it seemed like a big overreaction.

The whole article wasn't helped by some idiot who was supposed to be the expert on the papers. He kept saying that its completely pointless studying the way squirrels live, and when the newsreader pointed out it was important for conservation, he just said "who cares?". Just the kind of person you want to watch!

Sounds like a pretty useless newsreader! Do you know his name?

As for the black squirrels, they've been around for a long time haven't they? I haven't seen them begin to take over from the greys yet, although if they are more aggressive it would be a big problem for the remaining red squirrels if they do.

Good Grief!

Kingfisher