Before I came to Wooster, I only thought squirrels were brown or gray. I was intrigued when I first stepped foot on campus at the enormous population of black squirrels.Specifically, I remember walking to my classes everyday from Andrews dorm my freshman year, and watching dozens of them chase each other around like they were playing “tag”. After doing some research, I found that the squirrels are actually eastern gray squirrels with a genetic condition called “Melanism”. Melanism is the unusual darkening of body tissues caused by excessive production of melanin, especially as a form of color variation in animals. Animals that can share this condition are the black panther, wolves, leopards, and jaguars.
source: https://animalsake.com/facts-about-black-squirrels
Very interesting post! I appreciate the explanation of the genetic mutation that gave rise to these cute critters, as well as the source at the end!