Origins of British Black squirrel discovered

[smartie]

Since they interbreed with the greys it may be no more than that the gene for the black colour is dominant and therefore offspring of black/grey are more likely to be black than grey. Like human eye colours - but at this time of night after an evening out with friends I can't remember whether it is brown or blue eyes that is dominant.

[Jason Green]

Um... I'd imagine brown is, the same as the colour being dominant over blonde hair, Ron.

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by smartie

Since they interbreed with the greys it may be no more than that the gene for the black colour is dominant and therefore offspring of black/grey are more likely to be black than grey. Like human eye colours - but at this time of night after an evening out with friends I can't remember whether it is brown or blue eyes that is dominant.

Red eyes is it?

Yes, it's something fairly simple and has nothing to do with a black species.

[Poirot]

Originally Posted by smartie

Since they interbreed with the greys it may be no more than that the gene for the black colour is dominant and therefore offspring of black/grey are more likely to be black than grey. Like human eye colours - but at this time of night after an evening out with friends I can't remember whether it is brown or blue eyes that is dominant.

I am pretty certain its brown eyes, but hey who knows for certain, genetics is STRAAAANNNGGGGEE!!

[JeffH]

Well the blacks that visit our garden are certainly more aggressive than the greys and often chase them off!

Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers and Barn Owls)

[Rob_D]

Originally Posted by smartie

That's interesting. No doubt someone has done some subtle research to determine that the blacks outnumber the greys around Letchworth and Hitchin, so my empirical 20 year observations around Letchworth, which would suggest that the greys still outnumber the blacks by about 4 or 5 to 1, must be wrong. Clearly most of the black squirrels have been hiding from me

Again, my observation wouldn't be that the blacks are more aggressive than the greys, though I have seen this said before. Admittedly I only have a small resident community of 7 or 8 squirrels I can observe from my house on a daily basis, but the 2 black squirrels that frequent my garden must be wimps, as they are generally chased away from the feeding stations by the greys and almost always lose any fight they get involved in.

Now I pay more attention, I can see there are still a few greys in and around Baldock too. Until now I was only noticing the black ones because I thought they were unusual!

The idea that blacks are more agressive and pushing out the greys has been written in several newspaper reports recently making reference to an academic study at a prestigious university. That makes the idea an established fact, and any evidence to the contrary must be dismissed as imaginary

[smartie]

Yes, I'm clearly hallucinating I'll go and lie down.