#Gray Squirrel

[bonefall]

Bit of a random one but rereading the parable of the squirrels got me curious: how would clan cats (or just thunderclan in particular) view black/melanistic squirrels? Have any of them ever seen one? Im not sure how common they are in the uk, but i know they can be relatively prevalent in areas that have them sometimes

Black squirrels are nothing more than a simple morph! They get common in areas that have melanistic genes present as a result of simple genetic drift, though I've seen it proposed that black fur is an advantage in cold areas.

The gene is rare in the populations the Warriors come across, so they almost never see it. In spite of ShadowClan's unwillingness to control the gray squirrel population, ThunderClan is so aggressive about it that the pool stays shallow. Red Squirrels (pishkaf) do not have this gene. Only Gray Squirrels (chakchak) do.

So every time a black squirrel manages to occur, it's treated like a dire omen. Even ShadowClan takes it seriously.

Black as a color is associated with day and night cycles, because of Moon Shadow, Sun Shadow, and Shadowstar. Gray Squirrels are associated with war and benefit at the suffering of others. These things together herald great upheaval-- so cataclysmic that it would likely not be an "honorable conflict."

If you came to your Cleric with this omen, they would be struck with a look of terrible alarm. They'd be interested in its context, what it was doing, if it was eating anything, what its surroundings looked like. Someone like BB!Runningnose, interested in supporting Brokenstar's ambitions, might spin it as a positive sign.

Most Clerics would announce that the squirrel needs to be killed IMMEDIATELY, and launch a massive hunt to destroy it. What would come next would likely depend on the culture of the time, but for the most part I can imagine some sort of mass "purification" ritual. The whole Clan trying to identify how they can avoid the cataclysm, one of the few times where they see a glorious war as a bad thing.

The cat who kills the squirrel would likely earn an Honor Title. It's also very likely that the body of the animal is treated as a very powerful material-- burned to ash to prevent its use in forbidden magic or carefully preserved and made into something special, no in-between.

(Thinking about it... thanks for the idea I'll totally do this for Brokenstar's Cataclysm lmao. The sinew of the black squirrel is probably used to re-string Runny's acorn necklace.)

[todaysbird]

birch boy

[alcnfr]

Only a few Gray Squirrels (Scirus carolinensis) out and about on another very wet morning.

[snototter]

A leucistic Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) in Illinois, USA

by Sean Crane

[critter-catcher]

Some cute pictures of squirrels, part 2

Bonus:

This fella after running through the water dish and getting absolutely soaked

[thesingingbullfrog]

Melanistic Eastern Gray Squirrel (Michigan Road Trip)

[counterintuitivecomics]

sleeping squirrel studies from my watercolor sketchbook 🤎🐿💤 I used terra cotta pencil, a dark brown water-soluble pencil, and a watercolor kit. Image in the link goes to a patreon post more info and more squirrels....click if u dare

[ancientfrozenglaciershark]

[okartichoke]

HIII KITH AND KIN !!!!!! i'm finally officially rebranding myself as squirrel, just as god intended. (i <3 squirrels)

if anybody wants to ask me abt this character i would love u forever~~ :333333 (read as: in my first draft of this post, i rambled about him for way too long, then subsequently got embarrassed and deleted it all LOL)

more squirrel related screaming in the tags if you are interested >:3333 ok bye i hope you're doing well bye !!!

[thestonecuttersguild]

September 30, 2024

[juleskidding]

two royal squirrel adopts! starting at 40 usd, bid here and here

[todaysbird]

shout out to this bobtailed gray squirrel living his best life!

[alcnfr]

Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) out and about on a fine morning...

[pick-a-plush]

[critter-catcher]

A comical series of events caught on the trail cam!

[captain-habit]

Goth squirrel visitation, plus some other guy.