Brown squirrels?

[mi650]

Anyone ever seen a brown squirrel before? I know I haven't.

I haven't hunted squirrels for several years, but see them all the time while deer hunting. I have fox, grey, red, and black squirrels. Bright sunny day here, and have been reading about squirrel hunting on here lately, so decided to head out back for a couple hours.

I thought I was shooting black ones. The one on the right has more brown than the pic shows. Oh, and I almost forgot about the blonde fringe on the tail on the left.

 

[mi650]

A buddy of mine says they're fox squirrels with a genetic mutation.

They're about the right size for fox squirrels.

 

[Wapiti1]

We have black and brown morphs of both fox and grey squirrels. Usually, I find pockets of them when I hunt in southern IN. I haven't seen any morphs in central IN where I live, but I'm sure there are a few around.

Jeremy

 

[mi650]

This was a new one on me. Maybe I've seen them running around and just thought they were black. These are the 1st I've shot in 10+ years.

I shot them thru a little bit of pine needles, so didn't notice anything different thru the scope.

 

[Pfranchise]

We get quite a few black/brown squirrels here in MI. I’ve read that it’s caused by interspecies breeding between a fox and a gray.

 

[mi650]

We get quite a few black/brown squirrels here in MI. I’ve read that it’s caused by interspecies breeding between a fox and a gray.

Where at?

Most of my squirrel hunting experience has been on my grandparents farm in Shiawassee county, strictly fox.

 

[Pfranchise]

Where at?

Most of my squirrel hunting experience has been on my grandparents farm in Shiawassee county, strictly fox.

I'm in southeast MI near Auburn Hills. We have a good mix of gray and fox where we hunt. The number of grays in black phase has definitely increased in the past decade. We are good for at least one nearly every time we hunt.

 

[mi650]

I'm in southeast MI near Auburn Hills. We have a good mix of gray and fox where we hunt. The number of grays in black phase has definitely increased in the past decade. We are good for at least one nearly every time we hunt.

I live in Gladwin county. Black phase are the majority here now, at least on my land. I rarely see a fox.

 

[sbaker0029]

I've seen a few that color here in western Kentucky. I always thought they were just a coloration of fox squirrels. The size and shape match that of a fox squirrel.
We also have a few pockets of grey squirrels that are black.
Farm we hunted when I was a kid had majority black squirrels.

 

[Dave_]

Fox squirrels can have several different naturally occuring color phases. The black phase are melanistic.

Multiple origins of melanism in two species of North American tree squirrel (Sciurus) - BMC Ecology and Evolution

Background While our understanding of the genetic basis of convergent evolution has improved there are still many uncertainties. Here we investigate the repeated evolution of dark colouration (melanism) in eastern fox squirrels (Sciurus niger; hereafter “fox squirrels”) and eastern gray...

bmcecolevol.biomedcentral.com

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