"Mutant Black Squirrels" from Russia are the latest to push in, upsetting the plans of the American Grey Squirrels, who thought that they had the native British Red Squirrels nearly subjugated:
Mutant 'testosterone-fuelled' Russian black squirrels in Cambridgeshire are giving their grey cousins a taste of their own medicine and driving them from their homes.
A Cambridge academic believes the unusual black squirrel now makes up half of the total squirrel population in the area from which they have originated.
The upstarts are the genetic mutations of grey squirrels. And although nuts may be their food of choice there have been reports of their hungry Russian counterparts savaging stray dogs.
It has also been suggested black squirrels could be spreading as they are more aggressive than greys due to higher levels of testosterone, but this has not yet been proved
The first black squirrels were spotted around Letchworth Garden City, near Royston, home to the UK's largest colony.
Since then, they have gradually migrated northwards and eastwards as far as Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. They are also common in some parts of North America.
Three years ago, a pack of Russian black squirrels bit to death a stray dog in a Russian park. They were said to have scampered off at the sight of humans, some carrying pieces of flesh.
Ok, I call bullshit on that last sentence.
The protagonists, left to right: British, American and Russian Mutant squirrels.
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