How the North American grey squirrel has displaced the native red squirrel in the UK.
How the North American grey squirrel has displaced the native red squirrel in the UK.
You're viewing a single thread.
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?
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
Rich English people and destroying native populations name a better combination.
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.