**** AN INTERESTING FACT ABOUT BLACK SQUIRRELS ****

Foster: black squirrels are grey squirrels whose fur happens to be completely black. Like albinism, which I have seen in grey squirrels in London, the condition is caused by a genetic variation, in this case leading to a condition called melanism.

There is a gene which controls the banding of fur, and one variation of this gene results in all-black fur. The rate of incidence of this sort of condition is very low (about the same as albinism), but whereas the gene for albinism tends to be recessive, the gene for melanism can be dominant, that is, black squirrels can give birth to more black squirrels.

This means that if the squirrels in a particularly area like the "black" grey squirrel (and grey squirrels seem quite unprejudiced in such matters) you can get a population of black squirrels - which I had already learned about in Canada, but which I didn't see while I was squirrel-watching in Montreal.

I hypothesise that in urban populations of grey squirrels, the black fur is no worse a camouflage than grey fur, and thus we may well see cities where the "black" grey squirrels are more numerous than greys, or replace them entirely, although I don't think the black fur will provide so much of an advantage that the blacks will eventually replace the greys.

Found at http://onlyagame.typepad.com



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