this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2024
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How the North American grey squirrel has displaced the native red squirrel in the UK. (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Wikipedia on the subject

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I have no background on this, but assuming it's called as such because it came from north america, how was it introduced? Via ships like rats?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

In 1876 a Victorian banker "decided to release into the wild a pair of grey squirrels he had brought back with him from a business trip to America. Other landowners, viewing the non-native species as a fashionable garden novelty, soon followed suit."

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/sep/05/red-grey-squirrels-cornwall

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

They were released everywhere in the US for a similar reason. Towns wanted squirrels for the furry aesthetic. Before squirrels just hung out in the forest.