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Title: The rise of the super squirrel: have you seen a black squirrel?
Source:
peterboroughtoday
URL Source: http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/ ... e-rise-of-the-super.4900719.jp
Published: Jan 22, 2009
Author: Asha Mehta
Post Date: 2009-01-22 14:44:44 by Prefrontal Vortex
Keywords: None
Views: 177
Comments: 12
Have you seen a black squirrel? Published Date: 22 January 2009 THEY are big, black and fierce and are thought to be scampering across swathes of the Cambridgeshire countryside in huge numbers. But amazingly, no one has seen hide nor hair of the black super squirrel in Peterborough. Rangers in the city's beauty spots thought we had gone nuts when they were asked if they had spotted the creatures. But according to experts at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, there are around 25,000 black squirrels in East Anglia and they are rapidly taking over from their grey cousins. Researchers at the university also solved a mystery about the squirrels' origins. Quashing the theory that they evolved through a genetic mutation, DNA tests showed they were the descendants of American blacks that hopped to freedom from zoos. Dr Alison Thomas, senior lecturer in genetics at Anglia Ruskin University, who carried out the research with Helen McRobbie, predicted that the squirrels could be populating Peterborough hedgegrows within a few years. She said: "We have no records of them in Peterborough. The closest is parts of Huntingdon and villages along the River Ouse. "But I think, in a few years, they will come this way by interbreeding with the grey population, no doubt about it. "It's about if they can find the right kind of environment in the Fens. They need trees but they also live in urban areas in copses and hedgegrows. "I think within a decade, we will see them in Peterborough." The black squirrel was first spotted in the UK 90 years ago in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. But it now accounts for almost half of all squirrels in some areas around Cambridgeshire. However, when ranger at Central Park Mark Swift was asked whether he had seen one, he thought we were pulling his leg. He said: "Is it April 1? "There are a fair few squirrels here and I've even had one sit on my head, but I've never seen a black one. "There's got to be pockets of them in Cambridgeshire, but I don't know of any in this area. "I would like to see one, but it would depend how big it was." Reserve warden at Hampton Nature Reserve Francesca Barker, also ruled out any black squirrels roaming the area. Ranger at Ferry Meadows Greg Higby said: "I've never seen any and we've never had any reports for as long as I've been here. "But you never know. If they are more dominant, they may make their way here." The blacks are a subspecies of grey squirrels, but in some areas, have already become the dominant variety. They could provide an even bigger threat to the UK's native species of red squirrel, which had already been almost wiped out by greys.
The rise of the super squirrel: have you seen a black squirrel?
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#1. To: Prefrontal Vortex, *Agriculture-Environment* (#0)
ping
the american government is a disease masquerading as its own cure Solution: children armed with .22 rifles and a father who will teach them how to clean dead squirrels.
_________________________________________________________________________ I've killed reds and grays, but never seen or even heard of black squirrels. And they are "fierce"? .
Click for Privacy and Preparedness files Nehemiah 4:14 And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
Hmmm. I live in northern Indiana and almost all the squirrels here are black. I didn't know they were super squirrels.
All the squirrels in Ft. Wayne are brown. Years ago I was working a job in some NW Ohio town where they were all black.
Where I live in NYC we have black squirrels mixed in with the greya. No bigger than the others.
That's right. The Delmarva Fox Squirrel is making a comeback here, and they're about 50% larger than a gray squirrel. In addition to their size they have longer tails (proportionately) and little tufts of fur behind their ears. The first time I saw one I was deer hunting with a 12 ga and I said "I gotta get a bigger gun!" :) If critters become a nuisance in urban areas then .22 CB caps are super quiet, low powered and up to the task. CB caps are less powerful than .22 shorts and at close range are the ideal medicine for pigeons crapping on everything, or crows, possum and other noisy, destructive and/or unsanitary squatters. There is no squirrel problem that cannot be managed with super accurate (are there any other kind?) .22 rimfire rifles.
Are these what I might call Sans Poudre .22 shells that are rimfires w/o any powder? They make about the same noise, or less, than a pellet gun, and are made for gardeners, or indoor shooters.
"Satan / Cheney in "08" I remember the first time I ever saw a black squirrel, we were selling door-to-door in some little town way up north, seems like they had a big lake and a bible college. I remember a lot of homely chicks in long dresses. Anyway, the people I was with (my employer, for all intents and purposes) had some ritual revolving around making a big deal out of everything and anything, and so it was told on the drive up that these black squirrels were some sort of apocryphal zoologic link. On the other hand, it kept us from leaning out the windows rocking the van into a ditch.
The ultimate effect of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools. - Herbert Spencer
Are these what I might call Sans Poudre .22 shells that are rimfires w/o any powder? They make about the same noise, or less, than a pellet gun, and are made for gardeners, or indoor shooters. I once shot a noisy ass crow out of a tree next to my house because the bastard was waking us up every morning at sunrise with really LOUD cawing. The people stopped for the traffic light about 35 yds away never heard a sound. (I kept the muzzle inside the kitchen and took careful aim up to the treetop, and hit him in the eye. "His" mate followed him as he crashed through the branches all the way to the ground and she was raising HELL, and the motorists sure heard that! The memory of her dead hubby was too much so she moved out and never returned.
. They're quite common here in south central MN. More common than the occasional albino. They are quite beautiful, and are no more 'fierce' than any other squirrel (whatever that means).
“Of two evils, choose neither”. Charles H. Spurgeon
I dont know what that meant either. It's probably written by the same type of person that write about the "killer rabbit" that "attacked" Carter. The secret service should have thrown their Holy Hand Grenade Of Antioch. .
Click for Privacy and Preparedness files Nehemiah 4:14 And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
#2. To: Prefrontal Vortex (#0)
They could provide an even bigger threat to the UK's native species of red squirrel, which had already been almost wiped out by greys.
"This man is Jesus,” shouted one man, spilling his Guinness as Barack Obama began his inaugural address. “When will he come to Kenya to save us?”
-Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
#3. To: Prefrontal Vortex (#0)
#4. To: Prefrontal Vortex (#0)
(Edited)
#5. To: octavia (#4)
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#6. To: Prefrontal Vortex (#0)
#7. To: X-15 (#2)
Solution: children armed with .22 rifles and a father who will teach them how to clean dead squirrels.
#8. To: HOUNDDAWG (#7)
22 CB caps are super quiet, low powered and up to the task. CB caps
#9. To: Esso, octavia (#5)
All the squirrels in Ft. Wayne are brown. Years ago I was working a job in some NW Ohio town where they were all black.
#10. To: tom007 (#8)
(Edited)
22 CB caps are super quiet, low powered and up to the task. CB caps
#11. To: PSUSA (#3)
...but never seen or even heard of black squirrels. And they are "fierce"?
#12. To: Old Fud (#11)
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