Black squirrel and other Boston sights

[urbpan]

Comments

[rwblackbird]

It is interesting.

The squirrel population in the suburbs of Toronto have melanistic individuals in the majority.
In the suburbs of Montreal, they are a rare minority.

Do you know why that is?

[urbpan]

No.

But not knowing won't prevent me from saying something on the subject.
Melanism is a mutation that in a non-urban population would be an evolutionary disadvantage: a black squirrel is an easy target on a grey tree or the brown ground. Since the main predator of urban squirrels is automobiles, which kill them without regard to color, melanism is not a disadvantage to them.

Urban squirrels will approach humans for handouts, as well, and if the humans like the novelty of a black squirrel, those squirrels may get preferential feeding. This is the "pretty pigeon" effect, where unusual colored pigeons are deliberately fed more than dull ones. Humans become agents in evolution, encouraging attractive mutants.

Perhaps Torontoans prefer attractive mutants more than Montrealeans, at least when it comes to squirrels.

unrelated, but look at this

[richmackin]

http://www.livejournal.com/community/found_objects/1627492.html?#cutid1

Re: unrelated, but look at this

[urbpan]

Nice white roach pix!

I had no idea so many people hated bugs so much.

Re: unrelated, but look at this

[richmackin]

there was a discussion on the Buddhist community about people "saving" bugs. Finally, I asked "save from what" at which it become clear people meant "not killing it myself."

Re: unrelated, but look at this

[urbpan]

One would hope that part of the process of becoming a Buddhist would be reprogramming all of your default settings that are currently set to "kill."