If they will not breed with the grey squirrels, they are a seperate species. For
speciation to occur, it does not have to be that they can not mate, the fact that
they will not breed is just as valid.
Geographic isolation is as much an accepted qualification for speciation as genetic
differences. They are isolated, so the population is drifting away from what it
originally came from.
dalecochoy wrote:
Thank you Anita for researching this. I KNEW someone would.
BTW, Are you doing this at work?? :)
I was losing sleep over it!
Now I have the "Rest of the story" on KSU Black Squirrels. Here I thought
we were special! Darn!
Oh well, now I can sleep tonight without the double-dose of NIQUIL!
Thanks,
Dale
----- Original Message -----
From: "Anita Hawkins"
Subject: [IBC] evil squirrels!
Dale - "folklore" not withstanding, the KSU black squirrels were
brought down in 1961 from Canada (where they're relatively common) in
a well-documented incident. Not from Africa, sorry, as far as anyone
knows. Same species as the grey, though we may be seeing the
beginnings of the evolution of a new species here, since they don't
interbreed much with the greys. wait a few (human) generations and see...
from the KSU website:
"Ten rare black squirrels were imported from Canada in February 1961
by Larry Woodell, superintendent of grounds, and M. W. Staples, a
retired executive of
the Davey Tree Expert Company. When first released, the large,
black-spiked squirrels were frequently mistaken for skunks. Today they
own the campus. The
Black Squirrel Festival started in 1981 as a day-long event held on
the Student Center Plaza to introduce new students to campus and
community organizations."
So *your* black squirrels are no different from, say, the population
on the NIH campus in Washington DC. Say, what is it about black
squirrels and academia anyway? 
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