Weird Looking Animal Caught On Camera In New York

Anytime you are taking a walk around the neighborhood you just never know what you will see.

This morning while on my walk around my neighborhood I saw something that I never have seen before. Mind you that I grew up here in New York, lived in West Seneca, New York through the 80s and 90s and we even had plenty of open fields in our backyard and I have never seen something like this before.

During my walk, I notice that two squirrels were playing around the bottom of a tree. It seemed to me that they looked weird all black. But I thought it was the shadow from the tree that caused them to look all black.

It was only after they darted into the street that I noticed they were indeed very strange-looking. They were all black! It was like the two squirrels took a bath in charcoal dust and then went on to play around the tree. I have never seen all-black squirrels before. It was like seeing two squirrel shadows running around the neighborhood.

It turns out that black squirrels are a subgroup of Eastern Grey Squirrels and according to Wikipedia, some scientists think that the all-black fur is a genetic advantage allowing the squirrel to absorb more of the sun's heat in the Wintertime to stay warmer. It would make sense to see black squirrels here in Western New York since we are known to get cold snowy winters.

It also got me thinking that this Winter might not be over just yet. I have never seen a black squirrel before so now that I have seen two, does that mean that Mother Nature knows this Winter will be a bit longer than usual and is helping squirrels get ready for it?

I posted the pics below on my social media and some people mentioned that there are a lot of all-black squirrels in Lewiston and in Niagara Falls state park. I have spent time in both places and have never seen them before.

If you have seen them before send me a message and let me know where.

Check out the photos I snapped while on my walk.