Mutant black squirrels in Britain

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For years, the grey squirrel held sway - driving its red cousin into the remotest corners of the country.

But now the black squirrel has arrived - and is rampaging through parks and woodlands.

Scientists say the testosterone-charged black is fitter, faster and more fiercely competitive than both reds or grays.

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Cute but deadly: They may look harmless, but mutant squirrels have left the gray squirrel population in fear

It has already taken over in parts of England and appears to be spreading.

Its rise means the grays now have serious competition for the first time since they were introduced to Britain from America inthe 1870s.

The black squirrel is also likely to make life even harder for our native red squirrels.

A study by Cambridge scientists shows that black squirrels now make up half the squirrel population in some parts of the UK.

The upstarts are genetic mutations of grays, but have a darker fur and higher levels of the male sex hormone testosterone - making them more aggressive and more successful.

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Making a run for it: There are fears the black squirrels could wipe out the grays

Geneticist Helen McRobie and Dr Alison Thomas, a professor of life sciences, both from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge,conducted the first UK study of black squirrels.

"The population is expanding across the region and is spreading further every year," said Dr McRobie.

"They could overrun most of the Eastern counties within ten years."

The black squirrel is the result of a single mutation in the DNA of grays, giving them higher levels of the pigment melanin in their fur.

Sex selection is also boosting their numbers because female grays appear to prefer them as mates.

Dr Thomas, who completed the year-long study last week, used DNA samples taken from squirrels across East Anglia.

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Fury fight: Red, gray and black squirrels

She said: "There has been a recent population boom. They are due to overtake the gray squirrel population in some parts of the country.

"The first sighting was in 1912, but sightings were very rare until the last few years. They were first spotted around Letchworth Garden City, near Royston, Hertfordshire - currently home to the UK's largest colony.

"But since then they have migrated northwards, penetrating Cambridge city boundaries in the 1990s. Now they make up 50 percent of the squirrel population in the villages around Cambridge and they are spilling into Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire."

The rise of the black is the biggest change in squirrel demographics since the indigenous red squirrels almost disappeared50 years ago from most of England.

Lindsey Maguire, 50, who has co-ordinated the National Squirrel Rescue team for the last 12 years, agreed that blacks were becoming a more common sight.

He added: "The irony of it is the blacks were first spotted in a similar area to where the grays were introduced to Britain.

"Now they may well get their just deserts. I wonder how long it would be before we see a "save the gray"campaign."

I thought this was an interesting story concerning evolution.

From the page at smm.org

But it’s not the presence of squirrels alone that’s dangerous here. Cambridge had squirrels before, but these new squirrels are mutants. Mutant, melanistic, black-furred gray squirrels, and they are slowly but surely running the old-fashioned gray squirrels out of town.

Melanism, simply, is a genetic variation that causes skin, fur, or feathers to be consistently dark. It’s sort of the opposite of albinism. Black panthers, for instance, are just melanistic leopards or jaguars. Melanism is usually fairly uncommon in animals—if a species has evolved its fur or feathers to be camouflage within its natural environment, a melanistic individual might end up sticking out like a sore thumb and getting eaten before it can pass on its genes. This sort of selective pressure is probably less significant for your average city squirrel, and having black fur may not necessarily be detrimental, and other traits could determine a species’ success.

JGordon goes on to mention the story where a pack of those black squirrels kills, guts, and eats a stray dog.