Hi Tweets,

Jon Anderson writes:

(snip)
>and I was nearly attacked by a begging squirrel: a *totally black* squirrel!!
(snip)
>I know from the literature that there are melanistic Fox squirrels, but I'm
unaware of melanistic grays.

and Roger CraiK adds:

>Some deranged person released these critters into Stanley Park years ago
and they are, I believe, melanistic Eastern Greys.

Yes, they are eastern gray squirrels Sciurus carolinensis, they are a
deliberately released species (several pairs into Stanley Park in the ear;y
1950's) and they come in two color-morphs: grey and black. Both morphs can
be present in the same litter and both carry the panhandling and
i'm-just-so-cute-for-a-bushytailed-rat genes.

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
mprice at mindlink.net