[dangus]

So black squirrels ARE freaks?

I’d never seen one before moving to the DC area, but MOST squirrels here (including Arlington) are black. They’re not a rare sighting; they are literally all over the place.

[grellis]

I don't think they are. Our area, particularly on the MSU campus and throughout Lansing's Potter Park Zoo, has a very high concentration of black squirrels.I asked a DNR guy I know about them, and he said they are just black-phase eastern grey squirrels.

There is one thing that always strikes me as strange: There seems to be an invisible boundary the black squirrels won't cross. You can find them on the Lansing/East Lansing border, but if you go just two or three blocks westward They vanish completely. The westerly areas are completely overrun with the slightly heavier, slightly friendlier fox squirrels. I suppose the two just keep away from each other.