Animal

Some squirrels have black fur due to ‘interbreeding’, study finds


The rare black squirrels are the product of interbreeding with grey squirrels a new study has found (Picture: SWNS)

Scientists have worked out why some squirrels have black fur in a groundbreaking new study.

They discovered the unusually coloured black squirrel is the result of interbreeding between fox and grey squirrels.

In 2014, Dr Helen McRobie, of Anglia Ruskin University, found that the black fur is caused genetically by the grey squirrel having a pigment gene with missing DNA.

New research, published in the BMC Evolutionary Biology, has revealed that the faulty gene is identical to one found in the closely-related North American fox squirrel.

Dr McRobie, senior lecturer in biomedical science, said: ‘Squirrels take part in mating chases where a female squirrel is pursued by lots of male squirrels and eventually one male mates with the female.

‘People have spotted mixed species mating chases, with a mix of grey and fox squirrels pursuing a female.

Black squirrels seen in the south of England are actually related to the American fox squirrel, a new study has revealed (Picture:Philip Myers /SWNS)
The Eastern grey squirrel (Sciurus Carolinensis) eating its favourite snack (Picture: Getty)

‘The most likely explanation for the black version of the gene being found in the grey squirrel is that a male black fox squirrel mated with a female grey squirrel.

‘The fact black grey squirrels have become so common right across North America is possibly because black fur offers a thermal advantage, helping them inhabit regions with extremely cold winters.

‘This may have contributed to the expansion of the grey squirrel’s range during the past 11,000 years, following the end of the most recent Ice Age, helping them spread further north into Canada.’

The UK’s black squirrels reportedly escaped from a private zoo, having been imported from the United States.

In 1912 the first wild black squirrel was recorded in Woburn, Bedfordshire, and they are now found across many parts of south-east England.





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