Was that a black squirrel that I saw?
DEAR JOAN >> While driving down my street today, I saw a black tree squirrel. I stopped to watch it for a few minutes. It was somewhat smaller than a red tree squirrel, and its tail was not quite as bus hy.
I have never seen a black tree squirrel before, although I have lived here for 75 years. I have seen gray tree squirrels. What exactly did I see?
— Mike Bernal,
Morgan Hill DEAR MIKE >> You saw a black tree squirrel. They are less common than the other squirrels that scamper through the trees — and make one of my best friends hopping mad because they eat all her tomatoes —but they do exist.
The black squirrel is an Eastern gray squirrel with a quirk in its genetic makeup. Gray squirrels carry a mutant pigment gene, and if the offspring inherit one gene from mom and another from dad, the result is a black squirrel.
The black squirrels are more common on the East Coast because that’s where most of the Eastern gray squirrels live. The ones in California were imported. As the populations increase, we see more black squirrels.
Stanford and the Palo Alto area seem to have quite a few black squirrels, which has led to conspiracy theories about secret lab security breeches that unleashed a scurry of the ebony-colored squirrels on an unsuspecting populace. Just kidding. It’s just Mother Nature at work.
Mystery creature update
Earlier, I answered a letter from Art Zikorus of San Jose about an odd creature he caught a glimpse of in his backyard. He described the animal as dark brown with short hair and a furry, catlike tail, but with short legs and a mouselike head with small eyes. The animal also carried its tail low to the ground as it ran.
Although there is no way to know for certain, unless the creature returns and we get a good photo of it, I suggested that it might have been a young opossum or a young river otter, although neither of those animals fits the description exactly.
I’ve had a lot of readers write in with their theories, the most popular being a weasel, more specifically, a longtailed weasel. That’s a strong contender. Although it doesn’t quite tick all the boxes, it sounds more plausible than my guesses.
Other suggestions were a ring-tailed cat, a skunk, a marten, a pack or wood rat, a nutria, an escaped pet ferret, a marmot, a mongoose, a ground squirrel, a badger and a frazzled Loch Ness monster.
Rachael Ray to the rescue
Celebrity chef Rachael Ray, who also has her own brand of pet food, Nutrish, will be partnering with San Francisco-based Muttville Senior Dog Rescue and paying for all adoptions of senior dogs by prospective owners 50 and older through February.
The company also will provide a year’s supply of dog food and complimentary wellness checks from a vet, so that the adopters will have everything they need for the first year with their new animal.
Find out how to adopt at muttville.org. Muttville caters exclusively to senior dogs in the Bay Area, with a mission to give senior dogs a second chance at life through care and by helping them secure loving homes.