really surprising black squirrel to be able to observe an animal showing an unusual color of its fur

Black squirrels have been seen primarily in the UK and US, and their presence has always been a little mystery. Scientists have tried to explain this particular anomaly. Like many animals with unusual color combinations, black squirrels are the result of a genetic mutation. Researchers from Anglia Ruskin University, the University of Cambridge and the Virginia Museum of Natural History collaborated on a joint project that tested squirrel DNA. The results, published in BMC Evolutionary Biology, showed that the black squirrel is a cross between the common gray squirrel and the fox squirrel. The black squirrel is therefore actually a gray squirrel with a defective pigmented gene given by the fox squirrel, which makes the shade of its fur darker.