Thursday, August 18, 2005

Say It Loud!

Have you ever seen a black squirrel?

No, this is not the beginnings of a racist joke. I'm serious.

They look just like normal squirrels except they're black, or as close to it as possible. I just saw one in the street. I was picking up my dry cleaning when I glanced over into a yard and there, not two feet away, was a black squirrel.

I know what you're thinking. So What?

Here's the thing, the only other time I've ever seen a black squirrel was in Toronto. I was there, 1998, taking part in a medieval pageant play festival and the town was over run with squirrels... black ones. When I asked someone, a Canadian, what kind of squirrels they were he looked at me like I was a stupid American. (Which of course I was!) Anyway, apparently squirrels in that part of Canada are black, or darker than their cousin squirrels one nation south.

I could be completely wrong about this, but I started wondering if the black squirrel in my neighborhood was one of these Canadian Squirrels; a new breed of squirrel that has been transplanted to Chicago. Maybe it's just a freak of nature. Or maybe I am just an idiot and black squirrels are as common in this town as black labs. Who knows? I was just wondering.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've seen black squirrels as far south as College Park, MD. There are some that live on the UMD campus. It's the only place around here that I have seen them though.

LC Greenwood said...

Seeing a black squirrel is good luck. They do live here. However, yes, they are rare.