Black Squirrels

Location: Lawrence Park, Yonge & Lawrence
Date photo taken: 21 November 2009

I love squirrels at this time of year. While entertaining to watch at any time, the bounty of fall and the approaching cold weather combine to transform your everyday squirrel into a pudgy ball of adorable fuzziness. And as squirrels don't hibernate, winter still provides lots of opportunities to watch them.

Ever wonder why so many tourists stop to take pictures of our squirrels? Other than being cute, our black squirrels are a bit of an anomaly. They are actually a small subgroup of the more common eastern grey squirrel and while black individuals can occur in any population of grey squirrels, it is not very common for large percentages of the population to be black.

Fun squirrel fact: they're tricky. Squirrels have been known to pretend to bury their food if they think they are being watched. They dig the hole, make a placing gesture, and then fill the hole back up. Meanwhile, the food is still safely hidden in their mouth.