droopy
09-04-2021, 10:27 AM
This might be a bit of an odd question, but I'm curious as to what might affect the colour of a grey squirrel's fur when it grows back after shedding.
I'm aware at a very general level that when they have two of the genes for black fur, they come out jet black, when they have one they come out a muddy brown, and when they have neither they're grey. That's not what I'm interested in here though. To provide some context, there was an old squirrel (likely around 10 yrs old according to some locals) in my neighbourhood whom I named Droopy that I'd known since about a year ago when I became interested in squirrels. She was, and always had been jet black. Unfortunately, she hurt her leg at some point last fall which has made her unable to contend with her neighbours, and things took a turn for the worse this spring when a nursing mother took up residence in the same tree as her and started harassing her constantly. After having shed her winter coat, she had a sleek black coat, however the altercations she got into with her neighbour led to her being scarred in various places, and when her fur began to grow once again, it grew back ginger.
Around early summer, Droopy also had two babies, and when they finally came out of their nest last month, they too were ginger. One was fully ginger, while the other was a beautiful watercolour-like blend of black and ginger. While nursing them, Droopy's neighbour once again had babies and had harassed her the whole time, up until about a week after Droopy's two started to leave the nest and I found that she had passed away after falling from a branch...
Sob story aside, I've been feeding the two ginger young ones whenever I see them for the last month, and now they've both started to have their fur transition to jet black - the water colour one is more subtle, but the fully ginger one has big uniform patches of jet black as well as ginger.
I'm wondering what's up with the colour transitions here. Could this have something to do with nutrition by any chance? I've also seen some ginger greys in the park, who shed their fur in the spring and became jet black (with colourful blonde and ginger tails!), as well as some "blonde" squirrels who shed their fur and became brown. I thought those ones had to be genetic, but the fact that Droopy had (supposedly) never gone ginger before is what is making me doubt this.
I'm aware at a very general level that when they have two of the genes for black fur, they come out jet black, when they have one they come out a muddy brown, and when they have neither they're grey. That's not what I'm interested in here though. To provide some context, there was an old squirrel (likely around 10 yrs old according to some locals) in my neighbourhood whom I named Droopy that I'd known since about a year ago when I became interested in squirrels. She was, and always had been jet black. Unfortunately, she hurt her leg at some point last fall which has made her unable to contend with her neighbours, and things took a turn for the worse this spring when a nursing mother took up residence in the same tree as her and started harassing her constantly. After having shed her winter coat, she had a sleek black coat, however the altercations she got into with her neighbour led to her being scarred in various places, and when her fur began to grow once again, it grew back ginger.
Around early summer, Droopy also had two babies, and when they finally came out of their nest last month, they too were ginger. One was fully ginger, while the other was a beautiful watercolour-like blend of black and ginger. While nursing them, Droopy's neighbour once again had babies and had harassed her the whole time, up until about a week after Droopy's two started to leave the nest and I found that she had passed away after falling from a branch...
Sob story aside, I've been feeding the two ginger young ones whenever I see them for the last month, and now they've both started to have their fur transition to jet black - the water colour one is more subtle, but the fully ginger one has big uniform patches of jet black as well as ginger.
I'm wondering what's up with the colour transitions here. Could this have something to do with nutrition by any chance? I've also seen some ginger greys in the park, who shed their fur in the spring and became jet black (with colourful blonde and ginger tails!), as well as some "blonde" squirrels who shed their fur and became brown. I thought those ones had to be genetic, but the fact that Droopy had (supposedly) never gone ginger before is what is making me doubt this.