Color variations in squirrels?

Question

I know black and red color are specific to those types of squirrels. But this spring I have 2 browns that have red fur. Is this a genetic submissive trait? In Marysville, Kansas, USA, there used to be black population, with no other types I ever saw. The blacks were smaller than brown, so how did they become only type?

Answer 1

There are two predominate species of squirrel in North America, the gray squirrel and the fox squirrel.  All the minor difference seen are due to population effects.  Certain areas have more whites than others.  Certain locations, like Olney, Illinois, have more whites than grays.  This population is close, and artificially maintain by humans.  The white is not an albino, but a color phase.  Albinos are rare.  The colors see are just color phases characteristic to that population.  The reason the colors keep appearing every generation is due to the continued carry over of that color phase gene.

Answer 2

I've never seen North American squirrels other than greys in the UK; descendants of "decorative imports" that took over most the country.  Where I am now is Germany and, like most of Europe, it's home to red squirrels.  I wouldn't assume they're necessarily the same as the ones you're referring to, but perhaps conditions of fur colour could be parallel nonetheless.

While European reds are called reds, that's merely typical.  There's more variety than that suggests.  Many reds have some black patches somewhere, and a few go the whole hog by being completely black.  In this case, regardless of colour, they're all the same species.

(PS. Could somebody please inform the ill-informed spellcheck-bot that neither the word 'grey' or colour' require correcting?  They're correct already in most countries where English is written!)