• Question: why do grey squirrels have red spots?

    Asked by to Ruth, Helen, Gemma on 20 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Helen Gath

      Helen Gath answered on 20 Jun 2014:

      Hi @simpsonc,

      Grey squirrels actually have a wide variation in the colour they cane have in their hair. This can be due to two main reasons;
      1) Moulting of hair in different seasons
      2) Geographical variation
      3) Genetic inheritance form parents

      1) Hair is moulted every spring and every autumn. The squirell can’t shed all of its hair at once as it would very vulnerable, so the new hair replaces old hair very slowly,but often quite patchily.

      2) Where the squirrel lives can affect its colour. Over several generations, a squirrel living in dense woodland where it’s quite dark will tend to grow darker hair so that it camouflages much better with the dark trees and can escape predators. In open landscape where light levels are brighter, it pays to have a lighter coat to blend into the lighter background.

      3) The amount of melanin (a colour pigment) in the squirrel’s individual hairs can determine its coat colour. This is inherited from it’s parents. A black squirrel will have lots of a certain melanin, whilst albino squirells will have almost none!

      Not all hairs grow identically, so come squirells may grow patchily coloured hairs rather than an even colour all over.

      Hope you understand, feel free to ask again if not 🙂

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