Squirrels

Squirrels were nut-eating rodents often found in trees. Most would have been red or grey, but in Mirkwood, the squirrels were black in colour. During their journey through Mirkwood, Thorin and company killed one for food, but found it to be inedible.

Note

• "black squirrels" are not limited to Tolkien's fiction; in North America, melanistic mutants of the "Gray Squirrel" with all-black coats have substantial populations in several northern cities, where their coloring actually helps them blend in with urban shadows and pavement. [1]