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Hey, thanks for being a part
of the conversation. This is Forest Stories.

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I'm the Poet in the Forest,
a children's series that I pinned out

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in the nineteen nineties. Now,
none of it would be possible if it

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wasn't for this forest right here in
South Arlotte, North Carolina. I talk

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about it so much that I thought
maybe it's time that you get to know

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what has inspired me for thirty years. Thanks for being a part of the

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conversation. Welcome back to the forest. We got to talk about the squirrels.

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I mean, every city has a
squirrel, right They have their own

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style of squirrels. There are portions
of North Carolina that have bright white squirrels,

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but we've always seen the light brown
squirrels with the big bushy tails.

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Well, in this section of the
forest, Rainbow Forest, believe it or

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not, we have jet black squirrels, I mean, as dark as all

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can be. And they're not like
the other squirrels. These squirrels don't mind

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taking on the hawk the owl.
It's almost like there's a relationship between the

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black squirrels and the bright red cardinals. The cardinals sing as loud as they

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can, which brings in the very
protective crow. But those black squirrels are

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so amazing in their flight, the
chances they take leaping from tree to tree,

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or for that matter, the chances
they take by jumping up and grabbing

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the bird seed. But I've built
up a relationship with our black squirrels in

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the way that we have all of
this unused bird food because of the blue

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crown conyer, because of the doves, and I take it outside and I

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share it with the black squirrels as
a way of saying thank you for being

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unique in your own way and so
giving and your ability to teach so many

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people to grow forward by looking at
the obstacle that's standing in front of you,

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mister black squirrel, and not fearing
how high you are or how low

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it will suddenly become. But I've
done some research on the black squirrel.

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Black squirrels are a darker shade of
gray and can be found in many areas

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of North America. Their black combination, their black colorization is likely due to

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a gene variant that originated from inbreeding
between gray squirrels and fox squirrels. So

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we've had a fox squirrel here.
Now the story gets bigger. There's a

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mystery here. How is it that
this one area which may have included that

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fox squirrel, has created a black
squirrel? But bye, But but here's

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the thing. It clearly states it's
not the color black, but rather dark

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gray. It is said that many
black squirrels come from the UK. Do

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you know how far Rainbow Forest is
from the UK? Did somebody bring it

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here as a pet and then set
it free? How did this one section

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of the forest get its black squirrels? And a brave black squirrel? It

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is he Thanks for being a part
of the conversation.