On Wed, 19 Oct 2005, Kate M Bunting wrote: > Out of curiosity, Robin, do you know if the "Baltic squirrel" was a > distinct species, or a local variant of the European squirrel Sciurus > vulgaris? British ones (now sadly rare) are bright red, and I've seen > dark brown ones in Switzerland. I can imagine that Northern ones might > develop a thicker and paler coat in winter.
Veale says: "The quality and colour of the fur of the red squirrel varies according to its age, the time of year, the climate, the vegetation in which it lives, and the food on which it feeds. Thus while in the height of winter, when the animal's protective covering is at its richest, its back is grey and its belly white, later in the year the fur is thinner and streaked with red, and there is even more red in the skins of young ones. In more northerly climates the colour of the back is paler than in the thicker forests to the south, where in the winter its coat is a darker grey ranging almost to black, and at other times a warm chestnut red. Such wide variations have led naturalists to list innumerable varieties of the species, _sciurus vulgaris_." And much more. The book is worth a read! --Robin _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
