Why do so many Scottish animals have red fur or hair, such as red squirrels, red deer, Highland cows and red-headed humans?
Anthony Woodward
Portland, Oregon, US
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In humans, the recessive gene MC1R plays a part in producing red hair. Recessive genes are more likely to accumulate in isolated communities. The Highlands and islands of Scotland offer a few impediments to travel, but not many. About 13 per cent of the Scottish population have red hair, compared with about 1 to 2 per cent in the global population.
The genes for red hair probably originated in the grasslands of central Asia, spread to western and central Europe where the Celts originated, then spread with the Celts further afield.
More Celts survived in Ireland and Scotland because these countries are further from the sites of Roman and Anglo-Saxon invasions and were more difficult to conquer than England.
About 13 per cent of the Scottish population have red hair, compared with about 1 to 2 per cent in the global population
The current geographic range of the red squirrel extends beyond Scotland into northern England. Fur colour has several purposes: camouflage, a warning to predators, identification for mates and thermoregulation. The squirrel’s red fur camouflages it against the bark of the pine trees in which it lives. Darker fur absorbs more solar energy, with black fur doing so more efficiently than red.
The red deer of Scotland are a subspecies of the European red deer. They form the largest remnant of a group of red deer that came to the British Isles during the last glacial maximum. Their range includes northern England as well as Scotland. Red deer occur in much of Europe.
Highland cows have lived in Scotland at least since AD 600, but back then they were black! As recently as 1880, the majority were still black, according to the early herd books. It was the Victorians who selectively bred the cattle for their now-famous reddish coat.
So it seems that red fur isn’t special to Scotland. There isn’t even any red in the Scottish flag.
Guy Cox
Sydney, Australia
Red deer and squirrels are native species to the British Isles, not just Scotland. Red squirrels have tended to be driven out by introduced North American grey squirrels, so I am glad some still survive in Scotland. Red deer are still around in most of the islands of Britain, it’s just that Scotland has more suitable habitats. And when it comes to red animals, nothing could be more spectacularly red than the orangutan, and that lives a long way away from Scotland!
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