Cute but deadly: They may look harmless, but 'mutant' squirrels have left the grey squirrel population in fear
Posted on 04/25/2008 9:39:09 AM PDT by Stoat
Mutant 'testosterone-fuelled' Russian black squirrels in Cambridgeshire are giving their grey cousins a taste of their own medicine and driving them from their homes.
A Cambridge academic believes the unusual black squirrel now makes up half of the total squirrel population in the area from which they have originated.
The upstarts are the genetic mutations of grey squirrels. And although nuts may be their food of choice there have been reports of their hungry Russian counterparts savaging stray dogs.
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Cute but deadly: They may look harmless, but 'mutant' squirrels have left the grey squirrel population in fear
Dr Alison Thomas, from Anglia Ruskin University's department of life sciences, believes black squirrels could spread to Norfolk and Suffolk within 10 years and there are fears they could wipe out greys altogether.
"I was so surprised to see my first ever black squirrel cross the road when I was driving, and when I relayed the story to my family they were keen to know all about them so I made it my mission to find out more", Dr Thomas said.
"The abrupt switch from a delicate silver toned squirrel's coat to a dense black pelt occurs as a result of melanin pigments deposited in them during their development.
"A single genetic mutation can upset this balance, resulting in the over-production of the darker pigment and the birth of a black squirrel."
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Making a run for it: There are fears the black squirrels could wipe out the greys
The unusual black form has spread to the county from North Hertfordshire and is the biggest change in squirrel demographics since the last indigenous red squirrels disappeared 50 years ago - as a result of the population explosion of the bigger and more aggressive greys.
Dr Thomas said that compared to the DNA sequence that is obtained for the gene from the grey squirrel, the sequence from the black squirrel had a "chunk missing."
Increasing numbers of brown-black squirrels are also being produced as a result of breeding between the two species.
It has also been suggested black squirrels could be spreading as they are more aggressive than greys due to higher levels of testosterone, but this has not yet been proved
The first black squirrels were spotted around Letchworth Garden City, near Royston, home to the UK's largest colony.
Since then, they have gradually migrated northwards and eastwards as far as Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. They are also common in some parts of North America.
Three years ago, a pack of Russian black squirrels bit to death a stray dog in a Russian park. They were said to have scampered off at the sight of humans, some carrying pieces of flesh.
Ninja squirrels. Just what the world needs.
Here they make it sound as if they are descended from alien Russian squirrels, and elsewhere they suggest they are just locally derived mutants.
Incidentally, melanistic gray squirrels have been common in Princeton, NJ for decades, living alongside standard gray ones.
Some of the bees have gotten as far north as New York, or so I've heard.
Sadly, the best of them have died and those remaining have degenerated into Socialist moonbat loons.
Don’t ...wanna ... be ... banned...
Always a good plan....it doesn't take much around here.
Don't start a fight you can't finish. 
Here they make it sound as if they are descended from alien Russian squirrels, and elsewhere they suggest they are just locally derived mutants.
I wouldn't recommend citing this article in any submissions to peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Incidentally, melanistic gray squirrels have been common in Princeton, NJ for decades, living alongside standard gray ones.
Once populations rise to the point of creating a strain upon the existing infrastructure and the cancer of identity politics sets in, there will be rioting and social upheaval...it happens again and again.
It's his magnetic personality and dedication to justice....the best of the best will naturally gravitate toward him..
There are black squirrels in Peter Cooper Village NYC, in Washington DC, and in Princeton NJ.
They like urban and suburban liberals? They like handouts?
They don’t seem to have more testosterone than the greys here.
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