Nurturing Natives- Eastern Grey Squirrel

The eastern grey squirrel, easily identified by its tawny grey and brown fur and white belly, is found throughout Michigan in both urban and natural areas. They are also an incredibly common friend on campus, and The University of Michigan even has a designated Squirrel Club for lovers of these critters! Eastern grey squirrels have incredible spacial awareness, do not hibernate, and even are known to deceptively pretend to hide nuts in the ground to misguide other animals. Though their name suggests that all of these squirrels would be grey, some of them have their entire bodies covered in black fur. While these morphs of squirrel have been colloquially named “black squirrels”, they are really eastern grey squirrels with increased melanin due to a genetic mutation, and are not a unique species!