#gray squirrel

[geopsych]

Now famous among squirrels for its feats of daring! (This morning in the garden—probably a Coopers hawk.)

[dinosaurwithablog]

I have a new visitor to my back deck... it's a small, highly melanated gray squirrel. He's very fiesty. He just chased all the other animals off the deck and moved the food bowl to the edge, twice. He almost dumped it over the edge the first time I saw him doing this so I went outside and put it back in the middle of the deck. I came back to the door 5 minutes later, and he had pulled it to the opposite edge and was about to dump it over again... so now Petey and I are sitting on the deck so the others can eat in peace. He's adorable!! He's about the size of a chipmunk. He's, also, very spirited!! All the other squirrels and birds take turns and share the food, but this little guy wants it all to himself. That's okay... he's new here. He'll learn that there's enough for everyone... I hope 😄🤣🐿

At first, the new squirrel had no problem with the bird on the deck, but then he chased it off and started pulling the bowl around. I love it out here... there's always something going on with all the wildlife!!

[rainie-is-seasonchange]

Japanese gray squirrel.

Hokkaido, Japan.

[todaysbird]

had the pleasure of seeing this leucistic/dilute gray squirrel this morning!

[snototter]

A Western gray squirrel (Sciurus griseus) foraging for food in Yosemite National Park, California.

by Robyn Waayers

[snailkites]

So glad I have this trail cam to document the diversity in my yard

[unsanctitude]

silent hill: squirrel

[amber-tortoiseshell]

MC1R - Melanocortin 1 Receptor

Part I.

Part II. (mammals)

This gene encodes the receptor protein for melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH). The encoded protein, a seven pass transmembrane G protein coupled receptor, controls melanogenesis. Gene mutations that lead to a loss in function are associated with increased pheomelanin (red pigment) production, which leads to lighter skin and hair color; on the other hand gain of function mutations cause melanism.

Northern and southern marsupial mole

yellow

Inheritence: fixed variant.

image source

Mouse

recessive yellow (two mutations)

sombre (three mutations)

tobacco darkening (from the tobacco mouse)

tawny

mutaped-c3pde 59

Inheritence: sombre and tobacco are dominant, yellow is recessive.

sombre and wild type (on nonagouti, but agouti sombres are also this dark), recessive yellow

Oldfield mouse

light

Inheritence: intermediate.

dark and light

Mongolian gerbil

recessive yellow

fading yellow

Inheritence: both are recessive to the wild type, temporally codominant with each other: heterozygotes start out looking like recessive yellows and end up very close to fading yellow.

wild type (A/_ E/_), recessive yellow (A/_ e/e), black recessive yellow (a/a e/e), fading recessive yellow (_/_ ef/ef)

Guinea pig

bicolor

brown

Inheritence: order of dominance is wild type (black) > bicolor > brown.

bicolor, brown

Gray squirrel

melanism

Inheritence: intermediate.

brown-black (Eb/E), jet-black (Eb/Eb)

Rabbit

steel

japanese brindle

red

Inheritence: wild type is dominant over red, otherwise everything is pretty much intermediate to varying degrees.

supersteel (EsEs), steel (black Ese, blue and black EsE), harlequinized chestnut (Eej), harlequin (ejej), "torted harlequin" (eje) [real torted harlequins are nonagoutis, this is agouti, so phenotypically harlequin], red (ee)

Dog

melanistic mask

domino/grizzle/cocker sable (three mutations with similar effects)

recessive red(/yellow/cream/white) (three mutations)

Inheritence: order of dominance is melanistic mask > wild type > domino group > recessive red.

melanistic mask (on saddle tan), recessive red, domino, grizzle, cocker sable (all on black-and-tan)

Coyote

white (two possible mutations, one is identical to one of the dog recessive red alleles)

Inheritence: recessive.

image source

Red fox

alaska silver

Inheritence: intermediate.

silver (BB) with silver (BB) and cross (Bb) kits

Arctic fox

blue

Inheritence: dominant.

image source

Racoon dog

yellow

Inheritence: unknown.

image source

American black bear

Kermode

Inheritence: recessive.

image source

Antarctic fur seal

blond

Inheritence: recessive.

image source

Domestic cat

amber

carnelian

russet

Inheritence: amber and russet are recessive to the wild type, carnelian is intermediate; their interactions are unknown.

amber (ea/ea), russet (er/er), copal (E/ec), carnelian (ec/ec)

Geoffroy's cat

melanism

Inheritence: dominant.

image source

Jaguarundi

dark

Inheritence: intermediate.

various color variants

Jaguar

melanism

Inheritence: dominant.

image source

Pig

dominant black (three mutations)

black spotting on red/white

red (two mutations)

Inheritence: order on dominance is black > wild type > black spots > red.

dominant black, red, black spotting

Cattle

dominant black

recessive red (three mutations)

Inheritence: order of dominance is dominant black>wild type>recessive red.

black and red (the white spotting is unrelated!)

Zebu

red (two mutations)

Inheritence: very likely recessive.

image source

Yak

imperial nose color

Inheritence: dominant.

imperial (black) nosed adult and native (gray) nosed young

Arabian camel

white

Inheritence: dominant.

image source

Sheep

dominant black (three mutations)

recessive pheomelanin

Inheritence: wow, i truly wonder.

black (the fleece often fades in adulthood), yellow spots (spots only because the breed is extensively white spotted)

Goat

black

Inheritence: dominant.

image source

Reindeer

dark belly (two mutations)

Inheritence: dominant.

image source

Fallow deer

menil

white

Inheritence: recessive to the wild type, intermediate with each other.

menil, white

Wooly mammoth

light

Inheritence: unknown.

No image, for obvious reasons.

Horse, Przewalski's horse

chestnut (two mutations)

Inheritence: recessive.

domestic horse, Przewalski's horse

Donkey

red

Inheritence: recessive.

image source