Black squirrels from Ontario century-long D.C. tradition
Rondeau Provincial Park descendants continue to flourish near White House through 20 U.S. presidents
Eight black squirrels brought from Rondeau Provincial Park to Washington D.C. and their descendants have lasted through 20 American presidents — with Joe Biden set to be the 21st in January.
The squirrels — a subgroup of the eastern grey squirrel — were brought from the Kent County park along the north shore of Lake Erie to the U.S. capital in 1902 as part of an exchange with Canada under Theodore Roosevelt's administration.
They were first exhibited at the National Zoo and then 18 were released onto the zoo grounds in 1906, according to the CBC. Squirrels with the black fur trait now make up a significant portion of the squirrel population in the D.C. area.
John Koprowski, dean of the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming, said he first saw the squirrels in Washington in the late 1980s or early 1990s.
“They're striking, I would say, just that kind of jet black colouration,” he said. “They really are … pretty impressive when you see them bouncing around.”
Koprowski, a wildlife conservation professor who has been studying squirrels for close to 35 years, said the black squirrels belong to the same species as the grey and white squirrels in D.C.
The species can interbreed and the black fur is a “dominant characteristic,” he said, so it's not surprising how the black squirrel has become more common in this part of the U.S.
A Washington Post report from 2005 said the black squirrels make up between five and 25 per cent of the squirrel population in the region.
“You're talking about some pretty amazing success of their genes,” Koprowksi said of the black squirrel population starting from eight animals.
This variety of the squirrel has spread to a few other areas, including Virginia and suburbs in Maryland, he said.
The black fur offers an advantage during the winter because it can absorb heat, which may be why they are more common in southern Ontario, Koprowski said.
But the fur also comes with a disadvantage.
“Just like we can spot the black (squirrels) a little more easily, predators probably do, so there is probably a slight cost of being so striking,” Koprowski said.
“In the city you don't have as many hawks or things like that that forage … exclusively by vision. That's how they're picking up their prey, and you just don't have those populations in a place like D.C. in particular.” When the black squirrels venture out into natural areas, that's when they are under greater threat and why their footprint hasn't expanded very far, he said.
Koprowski said squirrels were one of the few connections he had to the natural world while growing up in Cleveland. He said he is glad people in Washington have that same opportunity to experience wildlife “in places that we don't typically think of as having an opportunity to connect.”
They're striking, I would say, just that kind of jet black colouration. They really are … pretty impressive.