cross-breed

here is one of our black squirrel, fox squirrel cross. kind of neat.

Wiggler, I had to release 1 just like that the other day and he thought he was a bobcat....LOL

Wiggler are you selling those on Taxi.net??

Wiggler, that would actually be a grey squirrel / fox squirrel cross, right? I wonder if I took one of those red tailed squirrels into the inhumane society, if they could get a DNA test? ( Or maybe CSI could do it! )

Wiggler, we have some squirrels around here that are big as a house cat, all gray body, black head and a white face, don't know the name of them but they are beautiful.

paul no.. these are a black squirrel cross.. we have more blacks here than grays.. he was jet black.. with a full brown fox squirrel tail. we have more this year than we've ever had. this cross-breeding stuff has to stop!!! we're losing our "pure" blood!

i was thinking about the DNA to Paul.. wonder how much black is this.. or versa-visa

Probably alomost half of are black squirrels here look like that this year. Dont know why. We have no Fox squirrels around here. I think it just a color phase.

they are not cross breeds they are either a grey squirrel or fox squirrel in the black phase. that is a fox squirrel in black phase looking at the tail.

Here is a couple pics of our grey squirrel black phase




this is another color phase we get in our grey squirrels




wiggler or any one else I can use some color phases in both the grey and fox squirrels for my squirrle talks. I do not have fox squirels in my area. shoot me a pm.

x2

To be exact that is a eastern fox squirrel Sciurus niger. The latin name was given for a reason. The black phase is one of many phases that vary from one geographic location to the next. The black phases seem to be the dominant DNA trait in the fox squirrels and working its way northward from the south.

In some markets ie Tulsa the fox squirrel is found more often in attics then the eastern gray squirrel any other part of the country. Locally the gray squirrel is never found in the same location as the fox squirrel. The gray squirrels are very territorial and won't let them in to co exist so I doubt they are even thinking about doing the naughty and making a new mixed squirrel races.

My best guess is it not crossbreeding at all; we are watching a species evolve to survive from an increase in predator populations.

See, I learned something new again! I never knew fox squirrels had a black phase like greys do. We used to have a lot more fox squirrels than we do now. I have only caught one fox squirrel on a house in 24 years. The live in the older woods with the great big hollow trees.

The greys kicked the fox squirrels butts and now the red squirrels are kicking the grey squirrels butts. I seems like the woods are always at war.

As I understand it, there are 10 subspecies of fox squirrel Sciurus niger: GOOGLE each subspecies for description, pictures, range, etc.
S. n. niger – Southern fox squirrel
S. n. avicinnia – Big Cypress fox squirrel
S. n. bachmani – Upland fox Squirrel
S. n. cinereus – Delmarva fox squirrel
S. n. limitis – Texas fox squirrel
S. n. ludovicianus – Pineywoods fox squirrel
S. n. rufiventer– Western fox squirrel
S. n. shermani – Sherman's fox squirrel
S. n. subauratus – Delta fox squirrel
S. n. vulpinus – Eastern fox squirrel

Here are a couple pictures of our local fox squirrel compared with our gray squirrel.

well.. we have reds, grays, blacks, and fox in my area.. plus fliers. in fact this morning on a run i saw 2 blacks... 2 gray, and one fox squirrel all in the same front yard together. no red there, but im sure he was somewhere. (they were eating those helicopter seeds) i should have stopped and snapped a photo for you doubters.. . we have never had this color phase black/fox/gray here until the last couple years.. some of these are really kind of neat looking. people are stunned when they stop by and see one of these in my yard and wonder what the heck their looking at.

Great Job Mr Professor 10 subspecies wow!

According to Peterson Field Guides "Mammals"

Michigan is home to 5 tree squirrels!!

Eastern Gray Squirrel,
Eastern Fox Squirrel,
Red Squirrel aka Pine squirrel,
Northern Flying Squirrel
Southern Flying Squirrel