I have a squirrel in my yard that is unusual to me. I have plenty of black squirrels in the neighborhood, and of course gray. But this has a dark chocolate body and reddish tail. Is this normal? Has anyone else seen these?
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Interesting I have never seen one like that. Maybe a black and a fox squirrel got it on?
Huh, that is cool. I haven’t ever seen one like that. I’ve seen a black one in our neighborhood recently. My folks have a lot of black ones (well, a lot of greys and reds, too 
). My dad said they also have a black one with a white tail.
Maybe a black and a fox squirrel got it on?
A really bad hair dye job. Looks like the ladies who frequent WalMart.
I have a squirrel in my yard that is unusual to me. I have plenty of black squirrels in the neighborhood, and of course gray. But this has a dark chocolate body and reddish tail. Is this normal? Has anyone else seen these?
Your description fits a “Fox” squirrel. A very common squirrel where I live here in Iowa. Fox squirrels have rusty colored fur mixed with black, giving them an overall reddish-brown appearance. Fox and gray squirrels will interbreed where their ranges overlap. The offspring are the “black phase” squirrel. Although it is considered a gray squirrel, its much darker coloring is a genetic contribution from the fox squirrel parent. There are 7 to 10 sub-species of the fox squirrel with various coloring differences.
A really bad hair dye job. Looks like the ladies who frequent WalMart.
He’s right! 
A really bad hair dye job. Looks like the ladies who frequent WalMart.
There are more hair colors now than Sherwin Williams paint colors.
As someone who’s seen a lot of squirrels up close and personal, (like thousands), your’s is a perfectly normal color phase. I’ve seen fully melanistic, albino, leucistic (I think that’s the spelling) cinnamon, blond, and every combination thereof. It’s all genetics.
That one needs to go on the mantle.
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