Dark morph Eurasian red squirrel

by Paul White

I have only seen dark morph Eurasian red squirrels in this part of the eastern Carpathians. They look quite different from those that I have seen in Scotland which are lighter with reddish, rusty coloured fur. So I decided to post the following video (which I captured on one of my camera traps) on social media to find out what other people's experiences are.


I received the following response from Julian Perry who is the research director at Wild Rodopi:- 

"It is thought that darker morphs of red squirrel have an adaptive advantage (thermal & camouflage) in damp dense montane forests, particularly those dominated by spruce and fir. The 'red' morphs are better suited to the more reddish bark of Scot's pine in open Caledonian forests."