Where they still exist in the UK, they are depicted as plucky natives fighting off an army of grey American invaders.
But red squirrels might not be so uniquely British after all, say scientists.
For years experts have argued whether the UK has its own sub-species of the Eurasian red squirrel, the type found across the world from Europe to Japan.
Now a study comparing historic samples of squirrels found in Britain with those from seven other European countries found their jawbones were the same size and shape – meaning ‘our’ red squirrel is not unique.
Red squirrels might not be so uniquely British after all, scientists have revealed (stock image of a red squirrel)
The study compared squirrel samples in Britain with those from seven European countries. An Eurasian Red Squirrels sitting on a wooden post eating a nut
The only examples which were different were from a now extinct population in Dorset in 1897.
It is thought the UK squirrel population was made more ‘European’ by conservationists who brought reds across when the native population was being wiped out by greys.
Study author Dr Melissa Marr, of the Natural History Museum, said: ‘This is an intriguing result.’
